A Wings of Fire Story
by Fatespeaker
Summary: An epic adventure. A quirky new cast. And the most original, relatable hero ever. Sound familiar? That's the point! Welcome to any and every Wings of Fire story. This TOTALLY SERIOUS tale features all of the things you know and love (or love to hate) from WoF fanfics and the series itself. Once you've read this, you've read them all! Adventures and clichés await you inside...
1. Prologue: A Veeeery Mysterious Beginning

**Prologue:**  
 **A Veeeeery Mysterious Beginning**

Two moons glowed brightly overhead, the third not yet risen. Stars shimmered. The night air hung heavy with fog and mystery.

A large MudWing looked up at the largest moon. He sighed.

"Hello, Clay," a blue SeaWing called to him, her voice much too soft and out of character. It was Tsunami. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, gesturing with her strong tail back toward Jade Mountain Academy as if to beckon him back to it.

"Oh, just thinking about why that moon is so mysterious," Clay replied in an enigmatic way. "Why is everything so mysterious and foreshadow-y tonight?"

Tsunami frowned and peered up at the stars. They were beautiful and distant, perfect for making metaphors about. "I don't know. Sunny just lost all her character development from the last four books and became scared of the dark. Can you help me with her?"

Clay tore his eyes off the night sky and nodded. "All right. Just please stop acting nice around me. My heart belongs to Peril, and our romance needs some drama before we can confess our love."

"Sure," Tsunami agreed, and instantly became more hostile to contribute to Clay's personal drama.

They flew back toward the academy with new tension between them. Tsunami couldn't help but notice the anxious energy that seemed to hang around the school, as if the night itself were warning of something bigger to come...

The halls of Jade Mountain Academy were fairly quiet, quiet enough for both Clay and Tsunami to start ruminating their life goals as they walked in a slow, heroic fashion.

Kinkajou bumped into them. "Hi, Tsunami! Hi, Clay!" she said cheerfully.

"SHHHHH!" Tsunami snapped at her, shoving the RainWing aside. "Oh my gosh, Kinkajou, we're trying to mysteriously ponder here!"

The little RainWing paled from hot pink to more of a...salmon-ish color. "Sorry," she said.

"Shut up, Kinkajou," Tsunami said, still trying to heroically ruminate.

Kinkajou shut up.

Clay frowned to Tsunami as they walked away. "I hope she isn't injured later to motivate/guilt us."

"Eh," Tsunami grunted, "I kinda thought that was going to happen to Sunny."

As if on cue, Sunny ran up to them and hugged Clay. Her warm scales shined a friendly gold color in the torchlight. "Clay! There you are! I was looking for you." She turned and looked at Tsunami with friendly green eyes. "Thanks for finding him, Tsunami." She spread her wings in a friendly, welcoming way. "I just got so scared of the dark. But now you're here, so I don't have to be afraid." She smiled. It was a friendly smile.

Clay wondered why Sunny was acting like a quirky side character instead of a heroine. Then he remembered the mysteriousness of the night.

"I love Jade Mountain Academy," Sunny said, offering some friendly exposition, "Everything has been so peaceful. The students are happy now. The lessons are going well. Our school is so lovely. Thank you, guys."

Tsunami grinned and gave Sunny a light shove. "Oh, Sunny," she said, clearly endeared, "You say that as if it'll all end one day."

Sunny laughed and hugged her. "Oh no, it can't. It's too perfect right now."

The sound of footsteps made all three of them look up. They spotted Starflight stumbling toward them with lots of scrolls in his arms. He looked worried.

"What's wrong, Star?" Clay asked, using a new nickname for no particular reason.

Starflight ran into a wall. "Oh, gosh, I'm blind," he said sadly. He groped around, trying to grab all the scrolls he had dropped.

Clay, Tsunami, and Sunny stepped forward to help him, but he waved them off, proving that he was an independent and functioning dragon.

He presented them with an old, yellowed scroll. "Look at this," he said, shaking it at them blindly. "Fatespeaker just read this to me, and I think it could mean something bad!"

"Something bad like what?" Tsunami asked.

"Like an ancient prophecy that could end us all!" Starflight cried.

Sunny gasped. "Oh no!" She took the scroll from him in a scared but friendly way. Her scales blanched in a way that was biologically improbable but still somehow canon.

Clay looked over her shoulder to read the scroll's ancient words. "This looks very, very bad," he said.

Tsunami read it aloud:

 _ **The Prophecy...**_

 _One shall come from the familiar night_

 _Seeking an end to all that is right_

 _A glorious sun shall set, and then_

 _The chosen one will make things right again_

 _An academy on a mountain of jade_

 _Will fall down and destroy everything that it made_

 _A special hero will come when it's time_

 _This last verse exists for the sake of a rhyme_

Starflight nervously wrapped his wings around Sunny, squeezing her just enough establish the story's take on their relationship. "What could it mean?" he asked.

Sunny started to cry. "I don't know!"

"Well, there's nothing we can do now. Nothing except foreshadow the rest of the plot," Tsunami said, sounding defeated already.

Clay looked out of a conveniently placed window. "The moons are very mysterious tonight," he commented. "Let's go watch them."

Sunny shrugged. "Sure."

"I'm down for it it," Tsunami said.

"I'm blind," Starflight said sadly.

They went outside to heroically ruminate and watch the mysterious moons.


	2. Chapter 1: The Normal, Relatable Dragon

**Chapter 1:**  
 **The Normal, Relatable Dragon**

 _I can't believe I'm being sent to school! If my parents were still around, oh! I'm sure they'd have let me stay home...I'm so nervous. What if nobody likes me? What if the teachers are mean? What if half of my story is wasted on an overdone subplot of overcoming shyness?_

The young dragon fidgeted nervously as she flew toward Jade Mountain Academy. She travelled slowly, to provide time for descriptions and exposition.

She was a little older than most of the students who were already there (and prettier, too, but of course she did not know that). As she continued to soar toward her new school, she conveniently thought of her backstory.

 _It's going to be weird, meeting the dragonets of destiny. Mom always said I could have been part of that prophecy, after hatching on the brightest night and all, but of course because I'm a hybrid I couldn't have been. It's so unfair!_ She sighed sadly. Dragons like her faced so much prejudice, just because of how they were born.

 _It's not my fault I'm part RainWing, part NightWing, part SeaWing, part IceWing, and maybe a little of a whole new and ridiculously overpowered tribe too_ , she thought miserably.

Despite being a hideously crossbred mash-up of dragon types that should have been against the laws of nature, this dragon had somehow hit the genetic jackpot and inherited only the best qualities of those many breeds. This gave her a perfect justification for why she had a grossly large amount of talents and magic, but for some reason it also made her shy and sympathetic.

* * *

A young SeaWing who was loitering just outside the academy's doors looked up in time to see the strange dragon approaching. _Oh, she must be the new student they told us about!_ he thought, unaware that, as a quarter-NightWing born with uncanny mindreading and prophecy powers, she could hear everything he was thinking.

Warm morning light glowed off of her multi-colored scales. The rising sun was a perfect, obviously symbolic backdrop to the arrival of this mysterious dragon. The SeaWing gasped as she drew closer and it became obvious that she was no ordinary dragon...

And yet...she was! She was a normal, everyday dragon with feelings just like everyone else. If only they could all see past her hybrid exterior and notice what a flawed and relatable character she was!

She shot a nervous blast of fire out of her elegantly curved snout. Her scales shifted colors like a RainWing, but they had SeaWing-esque patterns that glowed purple instead of green (because she was part NightWing), and she had beautiful icy patterns on her legs, wings, and neck. Her eyes were quiet and contemplative silver, though how something as simple as iris color could have such personality is anyone's guess.

She landed in front of the SeaWing, grasping the envelope she had in her talons tightly.

"H-hello?" she said, or rather, asked him.

 _Wow, she's so weird-looking_ , he thought.

She turned bright yellow in embarrassment when she heard him think that.

 _She's so relatably shy!_ he thought.

"I'm Oceancurse, the new student," she explained, fidgeting nervously.

"Sunny is waiting inside for you," the SeaWing replied.

"T-thank you!" Oceancurse said politely and with relatable meekness.

The SeaWing watched her enter the academy. Then he returned to watching the sunrise and lamenting the fact that he would serve no other purpose in the story.

* * *

Oceancurse didn't even have to look around for Sunny. The little yellow dragon flew right up to her, quirky and friendly as ever.

"Hi! You must be the new student!" Sunny smiled. Her thoughts were all very friendly, mostly stuff like: _I love meeting new students!_ and _Yay!_ and _Why does nobody ever write any depth into my character?!_

Oceancurse decided that she was a friendly sort of dragon.

Sunny took the letter from her, glanced at it, and said, "Oceancurse, right?"

"Yeah...it's, uh, kind of a mouthful. My friends all call me OC." _The few that I have,_ Oceancurse thought sadly. _I'm so relatably lonely._

Sunny let out a friendly laugh. "Okay, OC! That's a nice nickname." She gestured for OC to come forward with her wing. "Come on, I'll give you the tour."

Oceancurse followed her down the main hall of Jade Mountain Academy.

"Normally Fatespeaker introduces the new students," Sunny told her as they slowly walked through the school, "but she's conveniently absent now so that I can be in a relationship with Starflight!"

"That's great," OC said, with relatable uncertainty. She looked around at all of the different students. In this room alone, she saw IceWings, SkyWings, MudWings, and RainWings. They all seemed to be hanging out with their own kind. _But I'm so_ different _. I won't fit it anywhere...I guess I'm a relatable outcast_ , OC thought sadly.

Sunny proudly waved at the many features of the school. "We've worked very hard to make this place great! I'm sure you'll fit right in! It's amazing here, nothing like the other schools out there. We have great classes and food and..."

Sunny continued her awkward and unnecessary spiel about how great the school was, remaining very out of character for the entire speech.

 _I just hope that bad prophecy doesn't come true_ , Sunny thought ominously.

"What?" Oceancurse accidentally yelped aloud. She tried to keep her scales from turning that same embarrassed yellow color again.

"Oh, I was talking about the teachers. We have such nice dragons here! Nobody's even complained about our horrible treatment of the deeply rooted, culture-fueled rivalries that have been forming or the blatant lack of IceWing and SkyWing teachers and the unconscious effects that could have on how our IceWing and SkyWing students are treated by their peers!" Sunny said.

"That last sentence was a little inconsistent with your established character," OC commented in a thoughtful, relatable manner.

Sunny just shrugged. "What? Nobody's complaining, so we're all still happy!" She patted OC's shoulder. It was a friendly pat. "Anyway, I think I've explained everything. You can ask the teachers if you have anymore questions, but I'm sure the other students will also help you!"

 _As if they would talk to a hybrid like me_ , OC thought. _I wonder why Sunny was thinking -_

"I'll leave you to it now, if you're ready. I circled your dormitory on the map so you can find it. By the way, you're sharing a room with a NightWing and MudWing." Sunny handed her a map of the academy with a big, friendly circle around one of the rooms. OC hesitated before taking it.

"Don't worry, they're friendly. And I'm sure any tensions that rise from you coming from three completely different societies will be resolved soon in a cute but ultimately unrealistic lesson about acceptance. You'll be fine!" Sunny said, giving OC a little hug.

Oceancurse was shaking from her shyness now, but she hid it under a smile. "Thanks, Sunny."

Sunny stepped away from her. "It was nice to meet you. I gotta go teach...uh...whichever class I teach. Friendliness class? That seems about right. See you there!" She waved and flew away.

 _Wow_ , Oceancurse thought as she watched Sunny leave. _I hope all of the teachers are that friendly._

She followed the map to her dormitory, keeping her head low as she heard the thoughts and whispers of the dragons who saw her.

 _Who the heck is that?!_

 _What in all of Pyrrhia...?_

 _And I thought a two-breed cross was weird..._

 _Who is that?_

 _WHAT is that?!_

 _I hope I get a subplot..._

 _Where did that thing come from?_

 _Why does all of my dialogue have no depth?!_

 _Is that the new freak?!_

OC gulped. Freak. Was that what she was to them? Of course, even in a place as nice as Jade Mountain Academy, someone like her would never be able to fit in...

She was pulled out of her beautifully tragic reverie when she stopped at the door of her dormitory. She double checked the map to make sure it was the right one. She could hear at least one dragon moving around inside and making a lot of noise.

 _Oh no_ , she thought. _I have to meet the roommates now. I...I hope they're the quirky kind and not covert secondary antagonists. Here goes nothing..._

She knocked on the door.


	3. Chapter 2: New Friends, New Enemies

**Chapter 2:  
New Friends, New Enemies**

The heavy door to OC's new dormitory swung open. She peeked inside with very relatable caution.

The first thing she saw was a brown dragonet. The MudWing looked like she was around OC's age, and was just a bit shorter than her. Her big amber eyes regarded OC with quiet curiosity. OC looked down at her awkwardly.

The MudWing stood there, blocking the door, just long enough to establish that she was a stereotypical, awkward, and shy side character. "Hello," she finally said, ducking so she wouldn't have to meet OC's LUMINOUS and OVERPOWERING eyes (it should be clarified that they were overpowering in a smart and strong way, not a mean or evil way).

OC felt comforted by the fact that she wasn't the only shy one here.

The MudWing held out her talons to shake them with OC's. She quietly introduced herself with, "My name's Muddy."

"Hey," OC said, "I'm Oceancurse. Uh, you can call me OC...that's my nickname." She shook talons with Muddy.

"Um, w-welcome to Jade Academy, I guess," Muddy said shyly. "I can be y-your friend if you want." _But I'm not a very good friend._ OC heard the quiet thought go through Muddy's head and felt very bad for her.

OC smiled at the MudWing. "Okay!"

Muddy's name was so generic and uncreative that she couldn't be a important character or villain in disguise. Therefor, it was probably safe for OC to be friends with her.

 _All of my brothers and sisters are dead. I was emotionally scarred by the war, but I can't tell anyone because I want to fit in. I wish I had more friends. No wonder I am so shy!_ Muddy thought, conveniently exposing her entire sad backstory to OC.

 _Don't worry Muddy_ , OC thought to herself. _I'll keep your secrets safe!_

"So, um..." OC stood there at the door for a moment, still prevented from going in because Muddy was in the way.

"Oh, sorry!" Muddy stepped out of the way to let her into the room. An intense flashback of yesterday's math class began in Muddy's head, but OC had to block it out to focus on taking in the scene of the new dorm.

Against each of the three stone walls, a sleeping place had been arranged. The bed directly opposite to the door looked like it was Muddy's. It was full of leaves and swamp stuff and...other...MudWing...stuff. Whatever MudWings liked besides mud. (When it comes to habitats and specialties, let's just say that the MudWings got the short end of the stick.) The bed to the right was all gloomy and dark, making it most likely that it was a NightWing's. That left the empty bed to the left as the one OC would be using.

There was a small table near one bed, a scroll rack near the other, and various school supplies like bags and papers scattered everywhere. Those weird fiery orb-y lamp-y things that were never explained with either science or magic were also spread throughout the room for extra light.

The room looked taken, lived in. These dragonets had already been going about their lives without her for a while. OC took a moment to woefully wonder if she would ever fit in with them.

She went over to her sleeping place. Unlike the other dragons' beds, which were all customized for their tribe of origin, OC's bed was as mishmashed and chaotic as her genetics.

Jungle flowers and leaves decorated it, because she was part RainWing.

Some darker colors and starry patterns were there to reflect her NightWing side.

There were shells glued to the side. For her SeaWing heritage, she guessed.

Cool crystals that looked like ice were also at her bedside. _Oh yeah_ , OC remembered, _I'm part IceWing._

Lastly, Fatespeaker had taped a note that said, "WHAT ARE YOU?!"on the side to represent the new and ridiculously overpowered tribe that OC also boasted the blood of.

"It's just like home!" OC announced tearfully, hopping onto her new bed and immediately feeling like she belonged.

"I k-know, right?" Muddy said, somehow managing to stutter on a silent 'k', "Look at all these assorted m-mud things they put in my side of the room. I l-love this school!"

OC was about to ask Muddy about her tragic backstory when, suddenly, the door burst open again.

OC didn't recall closing the door behind her, but like the other results of a lack of revisions in this story, the detail didn't really bother her.

She was immediately assaulted by the loud, mean thoughts of the dragon who walked in.

 _Ugh, is this the new roommate? Great! I have to share my room with TWO losers now! This school is soooo boring. Why should I have to learn about tolerance when my own race is subjugated under the rule of a queen who doesn't represent us? I hate the food here! The classes are LAME. Ugh, this new dragonet looks so stupid. What is she? A SeaWing? A RainWing? Better not be another hybrid..._

The angry tirade of the NightWing's thoughts slammed into OC like a freight train. The NightWing looked at her, and OC struggled to speak under her dark, hateful stare. These eyes were overpowering in a way that was cruel and angry, not at all smart and strong in the way that OC's were overpowering.

The NightWing glared at her for a moment more. Then she moved past OC to her side of the room, saying, "I'm Plottwister. You?"

OC gulped. "Me? Oh...I'm, uh, Oceancurse. OC."

"What?" Plottwister looked back at OC, analyzing her as if she were a rotten piece of prey.

"Uh, I'm OC." OC stepped back. "It's my nickname."

The NightWing snorted. "Lame."

OC was hurt in the way that every normal, everyday, relatable person would be hurt by this.

Muddy sighed. "Come on, Twister. B-be nice." She turned to OC, fidgeting in the same shy way that OC often did. "We call her Twister," she said softly.

The NightWing only growled in response.

OC tried not to listen in on their thoughts. She really wanted to respect their privacy, but, of course, her magical powers were too powerful to be controlled. Alas, this poor dragon!

 _I hope I don't have class with Allure today. She's so mean. At least lunch is soon_ , Muddy thought in typical side character fashion. _I hope OC will be my friend. She's so pretty and magical and cool. I hope we won't be in a love triangle with..._

OC turned away, embarrassed by how much Muddy already admired her. She picked up one of the bright yellow flowers that adored her sleeping place and fiddled with it humbly. It helped distract her from the disturbingly spoiler-y thoughts that her roommates kept thinking.

From the other side of the room, OC could hear Twister's thoughts simmering. _I'm so sick of this place. I hope_ it _happens soon. The prophecy..._

It took all of OC's effort to hold back a loud gasp. A prophecy! Hadn't Sunny's thoughts also mentioned a prophecy? OC was no stranger to prophecies. She was a quarter NightWing, after all...or maybe she was one sixteeth NightWing. It was hard to keep track of all her powerful lineages.

But if there was a prophecy, why hadn't the Dragonets of Destiny told anyone about it? OC's talons clenched into a frustrated fist. If she asked someone about it, they would know about her mindreading abilities. She would be labelled as a creep...a weirdo...

A freak.

Like any relatable, heroic dragon, OC decided that she was willing to risk the safety of every innocent student in the entire school for the selfish sake of keeping her own secrets.

"Hey, OC," Muddy called to her, "W-we gotta g-get to class soon. You c-can meet the rest of our w-winglet there!" _Too bad the rest of our winglet doesn't like me. My tragic backstory..._

OC frowned. "Our first class? What's that?"

"History. D-don't you have a schedule?" Muddy replied.

OC was about to answer "No" when she heard the crinkling sound of paper beneath her tail. She reached over and picked up a previously unnoticed little scroll that was sitting on her bed. It was labelled 'Oceancurse - Schedule'. She somehow recognized the writing and sent a friendly thank-you to Sunny for preparing it for her.

"Yeah, I got it," OC told Muddy. She scanned over the scroll to see what she would be doing for the rest of the day. A relatable panic rose in her chest when she realized that she had no school supplies. She had been too busy pondering her future to even pack a pencil!

Muddy grabbed her bag and slipped out the door. "Let g-go. I don't want be l-late again."

OC did her best to hide her nervousness as she followed. She looked back at Twister. "Uh...Twister, are you coming?" she asked her grumpy roommate.

Twister waved the hybrid off with a flick of her black tail. "I always skip History class." With that, the NightWing folded her wings over her face and appeared to be asleep.

Just as OC was stepping out the door, Twister raised her head and looked at her sharply.

"You're a hybrid, huh?" Twister growled.

OC nodded slowly.

A low, scraping laugh sounded from Twister's throat. "See you in foreshadowing class, _freak_."

The door shut with a loud bang. Tears streamed down OC's face as she ran after Muddy.


	4. Chapter 3: Some Bad First Impressions

**Chapter 3:**  
 **Some Bad First Impressions**

"Oh, OC, I'm sure she d-didn't mean it. She was just r-really tired t-today." Muddy shyly helped dry OC's wet cheeks before they entered the history cave. OC's tears were beginning to shine like falling stars. While this normally looked very majestic and tragic, it would have been distracting to the rest of the class if OC walked in crying sparkles.

OC sniffed sadly as she wiped her face on her wing. "I'm fine," she said. She straightened herself up, nodded reassuringly to Muddy, and prepared to face whatever awful, sympathy-gaining bullying awaited her.

 _I can't let this stuff get to me! What did my mother always say? 'Stay strong, stay brave, stay relatable.' Yes, that will be my heroic catchphrase now_ , OC thought as she stared at the classroom's symbolically dark entrance.

She touched her wing to Muddy's in a way that, under most circumstances, would have been creepy, but was now reassuring and sweet for some reason. The MudWing was thinking, _Oceancurse is so relatable and similar to me. I feel so bad for her. I'm glad we can be there for each other. I will support her and be her friend, and we can face the bullies together...I believe in her..._

Listening to Muddy's thoughts was like munching on old cardboard, so OC tried her hardest block them out.

Just below the MudWing's thoughts on her 'mindreading radar', OC could hear the minds in the classroom full of dragons. The sea of thinking scared her. It was a constant murmur, lots of dragons thinking about lots of different things. Food...homework...friends...enemies...plot-relevant items...and love. OC blushed at the thought of romance. It would be so embarrassing if she found out about the other students' crushes!

From a distant part of the academy, OC heard Fatespeaker banging on the schedule gong (the NightWing's job kept her conveniently out of the way of Sunny and Starflight's romantic tension). The brassy sound reminded OC that if she didn't hurry up and get herself together, she would be late for class. That would add even more humiliation to her already pitiful, relatable first day.

They entered the History cave.

The class instantly quieted. As if on cue, everyone inside turned and looked at them. Well, not really...Nobody paid any attention to Muddy. They all stared directly at OC.

"Hey," OC said awkwardly. Her melodious voice made everyone blink in surprise. "Um, sorry, am I late? I'm new here."

"I see that," a purple RainWing sneered, immediately establishing herself as an antagonist. A few dragons laughed to make OC feel bad.

OC cringed as she heard some less-than-flattering thoughts about her coming from their heads.

Webs, their grossly underpaid SeaWing teacher, looked at OC with a mixture of pity and confusion. "Oceancurse, I presume?" he asked in his boring, teacher-y voice. "Welcome to the Diamond Winglet. Everyone, say hi!"

The other dragonets all mumbled half-hearted greetings. OC steeled her nerves and took a long look around the room.

The walls were covered in paper maps, making the room essentially a massive fire hazard and death trap. At a school where half of the attending dragonets could breathe fire, this was a very big flaw that had somehow gotten overlooked (probably because Starflight was in charge of checking rooms for safety risks...he wasn't exactly the best choice for an assignment that involved _looking_ for hazards, but the other dragonets of destiny wanted to let him feel important). Now it would probably come off as insensitive to certain dragon tribes to point it out.

There were only four other students here: a plain-looking SeaWing, attractive SkyWing, _very_ attractive SandWing, scowling IceWing, and the mean RainWing. They were all gathered around Webs in the center of the room. OC and Muddy slowly walked over and joined the group.

"Usually our class is composed of the Jade and Diamond Winglets," Webs explained to OC. "The Jade Winglet is off on another one of those world-saving quests that seem to happen every week - very disruptive to their education! - so it's just the Diamond Winglet today." He looked around at the class and forced on a _why did I agree to do this job_ smile as he said, "Now, let's all introduce ourselves to Oceancurse."

"OC," OC offered, "You can call me OC."

"I'm Islet," the plain SeaWing said blandly. This was probably the only line of dialogue she would ever have.

The mildly attractive (but not _that_ attractive) SkyWing looked at her in a very sweet, nervous way. _Ohmygosh she's so pretty...am I blushing? Is that biologically possible? Is she looking at me? Does she notice me? Does she care about me? Am I too short for her? How many children would we have if we got married?_ he thought. "I'm Expendable," he said very quickly, "Uh, hi Oceancurse! Uh, welcome to the school!"

The much more attractive SandWing, who had warm cream scales, intelligent dark eyes, handsome wings, sharp claws, and an even sharper jawline, looked at OC and thought, _Wow, she's kinda cute._ "I'm Hotness," he said. His voice was like butter, or perhaps very convincing margarine.

 _OC, huh? Ugly. Ha ha._ Those mean thoughts came, unsurprisingly, from the purple RainWing. She glared at OC with her bitter green eyes and said, "I'm Allure, sweetheart. That's my name. And my best quality." She giggled. It was a mean giggle. "By the way, I'm a _pure-blooded_ RainWing. Just in case anyone was wondering." Her thoughts were all just as cruel.

OC repeated her catchphrase in her head. Stay strong, stay brave, say relatable. She would NOT let this bully get to her the way Twister had!

Hotness looked at Allure, seeming mesmerized by her pretty RainWing colors. OC suddenly felt jealous. Envious colors danced across her hybrid scales.

"For moons' sake," the irritated IceWing snapped, "Islet and I are the only ones with sensible names and believable personalities here." He glared at OC, but he seemed to glare at everyone, so she didn't take it as personally as Allure's glare.

"That's Subzero," Expendable told OC. _Does she think I'm smart for knowing that? I hope she does. I hope she likes dragons who are smart. Does she like me yet? Ohmygosh she looked at me._

His thoughts were starting to make OC uncomfortable. Luckily, Webs cleared his throat and flapped his wings to get everyone's attention off of OC.

"All right, all right. Let's all settle down and get started on the lesson," Webs said. He frowned and gave the group a closer look. "I see Plottwister still hasn't showed up yet. Can someone please remind her that this class still exists?"

"I think she said that your checkered past and biased upbringing should bar you from teaching history to us," Subzero pointed out. "Personally, I agree."

"Yes, well, it's not my fault the school has a nonexistent budget at the moment. Clay just _had_ to go and burn our savings on that cafeteria," Webs replied tartly. "And don't even get me started on...You know what? Let's not talk about that. Let's get back to the lesson. I hope you all have your textscrolls...goodness knows we don't have the funds to replace them."

All of the other students started taking out their supplies and settling down for the beginning of class. OC quickly sat down next to Muddy. Hotness picked a spot next to her and regarded her with his very attractive eyes. His thoughts were casual: _I hope the new dragon is nice._ For some reason, OC felt her heart beating faster when he gazed at her.

"Everyone turn to section twelve of your scrolls," Webs droned on.

Allure, who just so happened to be sitting behind OC, startled her by thinking, _Why is Hotness sitting next to that new, freakishly relatable OC?_

OC resisted the urge to turn around and face the RainWing. She could feel Allure's attention focusing on her, and a relatable shiver went down her spine.

 _I'm waaaay prettier than her. Why are hybrids so weird looking?_ Allure wondered meanly.

Shame and anger filled OC's heart. She was proud of her heritage!

How was she supposed to stay strong and brave in this new place if everyone was going to be so cruel to her? Couldn't they see that she was just a normal dragon underneath her odd appearance? Would anyone give her a chance?

 _Oceancurse? Huh. That's a pretty name._

OC heard a nicer thought coming from her left. It was Hotness. Did he really like her?

 _She seems cool_ , the SandWing decided.

His kindness made OC smile. Maybe Jade Mountain Academy wasn't so bad.


	5. Chapter 4: Classroom Politics

**Chapter 4:**  
 **Classroom Politics**

"Today we will be learning more about IceWing government, a topic I have no first-hand experience with due to cultural divide," Webs told the class in his boring teacher voice. "I would ask you all to listen for plot-relevant information, but I'm sure none of you will pay attention anyway." He paused for a moment and stared at the wall sadly. "This...this is my life now."

Webs opened a flammable cloth bag and took out some maps, wincing as his old back injury, which had been treated by an incompetent RainWing (probably Kinkajou), began to pain him again. Thanks to Tsunami's recent budget cuts, Jade Mountain Academy could no longer help him with healthcare. While unrolling one of the maps onto a table, Webs said something boring about historic IceWing wars that OC was too distracted by her classmates' thoughts to hear.

 _I'm so shy. And hungry._ Muddy thought meekly. A dark, banana-related flashback began in her mind.

 _OC is so beautiful!_ the SkyWing, Expendable, thought so loudly that OC was sure she would have heard him from the other side of the school. She felt very embarrassed to hear this kind of stuff, but it was hard for her to avoid thoughts that were about her or other important parts of the story.

 _I'm so pretty and great and one-dimensional_ , Allure thought, basking in her arrogant bliss. Her conceited thoughts made OC clench her talons and want to blow some FireFrost (that was her special combination of frostbreath and firebreath, a power that made perfect sense and was not unreasonable at all given her hybrid heritage).

"...So that is why the IceWings and NightWings have an ancient grudge that continues to this day, a very important subject that is relevant to our lives," Webs concluded. "Aaaand none of you are even taking notes. Do I need to start threatening you all with detentions again?"

OC gasped and started frantically jotting things down on her paper. She'd missed the entire lecture!

Hotness suddenly leaned over and nudged her. "You can copy mine if you want," he whispered, passing her his scroll.

"Thanks," OC said with relatable nervousness. She tried not to stutter, since that was already Muddy's quirk.

Hotness smiled at her (a very very very attractive smile), and she felt her scales shifting to an enamored shade of pink. Panicking, she did her best to turn them back to their normal shimmery blue colors.

 _I wish my secret crush Hotness would stop talking to OC._ Allure's mind was now filled with jealousy. OC got some justified, relatable satisfaction from knowing this, though of course she wasn't inciting Allure's envy on purpose.

"Now that we are finished with the Diamond-lineage and third antebellum periods of IceWing history - ahem!" Webs noticed OC and Hotness exchanging deep and romantic glances that were entirely inappropriate for a classroom setting. He pounded his claws on the table to bring everyone's attention back to him. Something in his arm cracked. He muttered a quiet curse about Tsunami cutting his health benefits.

"As I was saying," Webs continued boringly, "we are now going to talk about more recent IceWing history. Since Jade Mountain Academy is such a diverse school, you may already know some things about our current era of IceWing politics. I sure as heck don't know anything about it beyond what my participation in an extremist peace group taught me, so hopefully this information that Sunny and Starflight gave me is true. Hmm...you know, neither of them are actually IceWings. Subzero, feel free to correct me if anything I say is wrong."

Subzero leaned forward, glaring at Webs. He breathed out an agitated puff of frost. "Wow, okay. I'm an IceWing, so I automatically know everything about my tribe's government? As if it isn't a corrupted caste system run by oligarchs that my family was persecuted for trying to expose? That's very insensitive; I'm very offended."

Webs let out a tired, boring sigh. "My apologies, Subzero. I won't ask for your opinion on anything ever. _Please_ don't file another formal complaint...I need this job to pay for my therapy."

"FURTHERMORE," Subzero growled loudly, "What if I wasn't even raised in the Ice Kingdom? What if my mother took my egg and hid it somewhere far away from our tribe and raised it alone in a highly improbable way that also hid my special abilities from the world? What if being asked about the IceWings makes me feel bad about my - "

Hotness reached over and poked the grumpy IceWing. "I don't think Moonwatcher is having a good influence on you," he said lightly.

"I am misunderstood," Subzero muttered and returned to glaring at the ceiling.

A few memories of Hotness and Subzero hanging out flashed through Hotness's head. Then he thought, _I wonder if OC would want to hang out with me._ OC almost gasped. She tried not to look at his attractive SandWing face - it was like staring at the sun. He was just sooooo attractive.

Webs stomped his foot. "Can we all focus back on history again? Can you guys at least _pretend_ to care about the class I'm teaching?"

"I'm so pretty," Allure proclaimed, driving the class even further away from the intended discussion topic. She flashed garishly bright colors across her scales. "Who else thinks I'm super pretty?"

"You know what?!" Webs stood up and slammed his front feet down onto the table. The map tore under his talons.

The whole class finally perked up.

"I'm done with this. I'm done with all of you!" Webs went on angrily, his boring voice rising. It cracked dramatically on the word 'all'. "This winglet clearly doesn't give a care about me or my lessons, so...Goodbye! Class dismissed!"

Webs walked out of the room, leaving behind all of his teaching supplies. As he whisked by her, OC heard him thinking, _I'm going to go sit in a dark room and cry about all the lives I've ruined, including my son's._

The Diamond Winglet sat in silence for a few moments.

Eventually, Muddy looked over and shyly asked OC, "S-so, what do y-you think of our history t-teacher?"

OC shrugged. "He seems...nice."

Subzero rolled his eyes and started packing up his things. "This school really needs to get its act together, or I'm reporting this stuff to the district."

"We don't _have_ school districts, Subzero. We're dragons living in a half-wild, fantasy setting," Hotness reminded his friend in a helpful, very attractive way.

"I'm still upset by this," the IceWing snapped.

Hotness turned to look at OC, and she saw her own lovestruck self reflected in his dark, passionate, romantic eyes. Her heart started to melt, not in a life-threatening, literal way (that would have required immediate medical treatment) but in a beautiful, figurative expression of her love. Her wings turned bright red. She gulped and became relatably awkward. Wow, he was just so...so...

"So, I guess we have a few extra minutes before lunchtime," Hotness said. "Anyone wanna start a game of Truth or Dare?"

Subzero glared. "That sounds like a very overused and unoriginal idea," he replied flatly. "Hotness, I expected better from you." He picked up his bag, a handmade satchel that had the words 'NOT YOUR SELF-INSERT' lovingly stitched on it in pink, and stormed out of the room.

"Don't mind him," Hotness told OC. Her heart fluttered (this was also figurative, since real heart palpitations are unhealthy). "Subzero's always like that, but he's pretty cool once you get to know him!" Hotness explained attractively.

"Aren't all IceWings grumpy and mysterious?" Allure asked. Her voice was high and snotty-sounding.

Muddy frowned at the RainWing. "D-d-don't perpetuate s-stereotypes, Allure! T-that's m-mean."

"Well, nobody's done anything to break that stereotype," Allure shot back. "Don't blame me. Blame society." OC hated the bully, but she had a fair point.

Expendable remained quiet this whole time, his thoughts rushing with a river of affection for OC. _She's so pretty and perfect and overpowered. Every time I look at her, the world sparkles. My eyes are weak from gazing at her beauty. I wonder if she would go to the dance with me? No! I will never be good enough for her. Nobody will ever be good enough for her. That is the tragedy of such perfection. I was struck instantly when I saw her...Is this true love?!_

 _No_ , OC thought, _the way I feel when I look at Hotness..._ that _must be true love. Does he feel the same?_

Allure slyly slid forward and batted her green eyes at Hotness. "Hey, Hotness," she said, her words thick with flirtatiousness, "Want to hang out after hunting class?"

"Oh, uh..." Hotness shifted his wings around, a hesitant expression on his handsome face. _I was going to ask OC to go on a date with me after hunting class! I don't want to be mean to Allure, though. Sure, she's the most awful, rotten-souled dragon in this school, but I don't want to let anyone down...my HOT, TROUBLED PAST would haunt me if I did._ He smiled. "Sure, Allure."

Allure glanced at OC and grinned cruelly.

Distress and frustration boiled in OC. She felt her scales growing warm again. Not with love. This time it was with anger. Why, oh, why was Allure constantly ruining her relatable life? Couldn't she just leave OC alone? The day had already started out badly, with the Twister situation and the stress of coming to a new school. Now this horrible, mean RainWing was making a move on OC's love interest!

OC felt like she was going to explode. Figuratively, of course. Before she could do anything, a gong sounded throughout the halls of the academy. It was lunchtime.


	6. Chapter 5: Drama in the Dining Area

**Chapter 5:**  
 **Drama in the Dining Area**

OC's winglet quickly streamed out of the classroom. The group of dragonets dashed toward the prey center, eager to exchange juicy gossip and sink their teeth into the juicy flesh of smaller animals. Dragons are carnivores, after all (the omnivorous RainWings, being a tribe of nerds and weirdos, don't really count as dragons).

Oceancurse laughed relatably when she took her first look at the prey center. Dragons were running and flying everywhere, chasing after live prey. "I'm guessing this was Clay's idea," OC chuckled, smiling at Muddy, "because I know the dragonets of destiny and I'm really good friends with them and they think I'm awesome."

"Y-yeah!" Muddy replied.

The air was filled with so many thoughts! OC spun around, trying to take everything in. It was a wonder that her relatably flawless, naturally beautiful head didn't explode from the sensory overload. Dragons were EVERYWHERE, thinking about EVERYTHING, and talking very loudly as well.

She closed her eyes for just a second, listening to all of the thoughts.

 _I wonder what these fruits taste like._

 _Are prey animals sentient? I mean, we eat humans..._

 _Why doesn't she like me back?!_

 _He's so cute with food on his face!_

 _Omigosh I forgot my homework...I forgot all the homework...what am I going to tell the teacher? I'm a really bad student; it's my only character trait..._

 _Foreshadowingforeshadowingforeshadowing..._

 _If dragons, reptiles with presumably primitive brains, are capable of deep thought in this world, does that these other animals can think and feel?_

 _I wish I had magic powers!_

"Wow," OC whispered in relatable awe. This place was like a symphony of minds. She could barely process it all. A short SeaWing ran past her, chasing a wild pig that would soon become his lunch. The vast array of prey animals that OC saw running about included cows, chickens, elk, and sheep. How the school managed all this while keeping the place sanitary was anyone's guess.

In addition to the live food, OC saw several stations offering a wide variety fruits and pre-cooked meats for them to pick from. There was even a bin of wheatgrass, for the health-conscious dragonets. The hungry students sat at the stone tables or stood chatting all around them. Tsunami and Sunny were somewhere in there too, standing around and being utterly useless, since their character arcs had been resolved in the first series.

"This extravagance is why they can't afford any benefits for the teachers," Subzero commented dryly beside her, but nobody heard him over the din.

"C-come on, O-OC," Muddy said shyly, tugging at her wing, "l-let's go find s-somewhere to s-sit before we g-get l-lunch."

"Okay!" OC held Muddy's talons and started wading through the crowd, scanning the dining area for a convenient place to sit down with her friends, somewhere to establish their personalities and pasts through an unnecessary conversation.

 _Where is Hotness sitting?_ OC wondered, totally and relatably in love. Then she pushed that thought aside. _Sisters before misters, OC!_

"Oh n-no," Muddy stuttered out shyly.

OC flinched. Just from what Muddy was thinking, she could tell who was standing behind them.

OC turned and found herself face to face with Plottwister and Allure. The mean RainWing, whose scales had turned a snobby shade of pink, snickered when she saw OC's flustered expression. _OC looks so stupid. I'm sure judging her right now, before I know anything about her past, is a great idea_ , Allure thought.

Flashing snobby colors across her ruff, Allure circled around OC. OC's own scales faded to gray and black. Allure hissed, "Look, OB - "

"It's O-O-OC!" Muddy cut in with uncharacteristic braveness. She immediately returned to being shy and cowered beside OC.

"Sorry. O-O-OC," Allure mocked mockingly. OC glared at her. Her mean tone becoming even more condescending, the RainWing went on, "Listen here. That hot SandWing, who is also totally hot in the 'good-looking' sense of the word, is _mine_. Back off Hotness, or you'll get a taste of RainWing venom." She bared her fangs menacingly.

Hotness. Of course this was about him. OC wished that she could growl back and give Allure a piece of her mind. Instead, her tongue was tied thanks to her relatable fear.

In the back of her head, OC could hear Subzero wondering if Allure's conduct was against the rules. The IceWing came to the quick conclusion that, no, it wasn't and that this stuff was perfectly normal at an unregulated dragon school.

 _Hotness is mine_ , Allure thought, smirking meanly.

"You don't own him!" OC cried. She glared even harder at Allure, wishing the one-dimensional bully would get what she deserved. "Why aren't you nice?!"

Allure snickered, then looked at Plottwister in pretend confusion. "I don't know, Twister, why _am_ I not nice?" She let out a mock gasp. Her vomit-colored eyes glittered cruelly. "Oh, wait, it's because you suck! Ha ha!"

Plottwister tried to laugh along, but Allure's insult was so stupid that the antagonistic NightWing could only manage a cough.

An entourage of students, who all hated OC now, appeared around Allure to admire her. Allure and Plottwister strutted off, their wings flared and tails lashing, in an exit that was as sudden as their appearance.

OC sighed softly and let a glimmering tear roll dramatically down her cheek. She was too shy and kind to confront Allure, so she resolved to suffer in silence. Obviously, at a school run by young, virtuous heroes who stood up others, there was NO way she could get ANY help with this bullying problem.

With elegant sorrow, OC bowed her head and stared at the ground. When would it end?


	7. Chapter 6: REAL Drama in the Dining Area

**Chapter 6:**  
 **REAL Drama in the Dining Area**

"Well, that was an entirely pointless conversation," Subzero remarked. In his thoughts OC heard, _Are they serving seal today?_

OC sniffled. She had to be brave. "Come on, guys. Let's go eat." She looked to Muddy and Subzero and forced on a smile. "Thanks for being my friends."

"D-d-don't let Allure g-get you down!" Muddy stuttered optimistically. She patted OC's shoulder kindly, then looked at Subzero.

"I honestly couldn't care less about anyone here, you two included," Subzero said, "but I might as well say this: I hate Allure and I think she's an exceptionally shallow dragon." He eyed a nearby pile of fish hungrily. "And that's saying something, since everyone in this academy is pretty shallow."

"Oh, thank you!" OC hugged them both fiercely. Muddy grinned and Subzero muttered something about plot contrivances. She spotted an empty stone table, which was conveniently located next to the one that the rest of their classmates were sitting at. "Let's sit there once we get our lunch." Muddy nodded in agreement, then looked down shyly. Subzero shrugged and thought, _Well, why not?_

Muddy went over the piles of food, determined to get some beaver meat. Apparently, when she wasn't being shy and friendly, she was fulfilling MudWing stereotypes. Subzero set his bag down at the table and slipped away. For a sparkly white dragon with a distinct face of perpetual disdain, he disappeared into the crowd surprisingly quickly.

OC relatably fidgeted her claws and wondered what she was going to eat. With so many conflicting bloodlines and instincts, she had been cursed with a very peculiar palette. She tried to run over all of her various aversions and allergies in her head. _Let's see...mangoes, mongoose, sheep, moose, scavenger, banana, nuance, character flaws, peanuts...oh, forget it! I can't eat anything._ She let out an exasperated sigh. The life of a special hybrid was so hard!

She settled with a relatable lunch of plain bread. Muddy and Subzero were still getting their food, so she sat down with her plate and hoped that the bread was gluten free.

Before she could stop herself, OC was scanning the dining area in search of Hotness's face. She spotted the back of his head on the other side of the room. She tried to focus on him, but he was so far away and the room was so crowded that she could not hear any of his thoughts.

"They r-ran out of b-beaver," Muddy mumbled sadly as she settled down beside OC with a charred deer in her talons. She noticed OC's distant look and asked. "Are you l-looking f-for someone?"

"Uh, no, I mean, uh, just lookin' for Subzero!" OC blurted out. Her relatable crush made her get so awkward when she thought of Hotness.

His attractive pale golden scales and attractive dark, dark eyes...It was a miracle that OC's scales weren't turning bright red. She tried to get his image out of her head.

Muddy nodded. "I'm sure he'll be b-back s-soon."

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm sure," OC said, still thinking about Hotness.

A familiar, mildly attractive SkyWing passed by their table. OC relatably cringed when she heard him thinking. Expendable's mind was racing with dreams about his own crush. _Ohmygoshit'sOC. She's so beautiful. So hauntingly elegant and complex. Ohhhmygosh, I have to be cool. I have to walk by her and look cool. Should I say hi? Do I look cool? SHE'S LOOKING AT ME._

OC ducked away, embarrassed by the attention he kept giving her.

"H-h-h-hey, E-Expend-d-dable," Muddy choked out, stuttering even more than usual. OC stared at her. Her friend's thoughts were all mixed up, messy, and bright.

 _Oh no_ , OC thought. _No way. This can't be._

Expendable was still fixated on OC. "Hi! Hello!" _Ugh, I sound so dumb. OC will hate me now. Why did I even talk to her? Why am I so infatuated with someone I just met? I have to get out of here._ He covered his face and rushed away.

OC craned her neck and watched Expendable run all the way out of the dining area. She figured that following him would only make it worse, since she was the source of his woe. It made her feel guilty to be so perfect.

When OC turned back to Muddy, she saw that the MudWing was just as frazzled.

"OC, I have something t-to t-tell you," Muddy whispered. "It's a-a secret."

OC already knew what was coming. She put on a blank face and said, "Okay, you can trust me."

Muddy's gaze darted around as she leaned in toward OC. Her declaration came out all rushed and jumbled. "IlikeExpendable."

OC blinked and acted surprised. "Wow, um, I guess he's really cute, Muddy. That's great." She would have to proceed carefully now. A love triangle was starting to form (a love square, if Hotness was included), and OC didn't want to deal with all that romantic drama. A prophetic vision of her possible future love life flashed through her head.

Her friend looked to her anxiously. "Do you think he l-likes m-me?" Her mind said, _Does he even notice me? Does anyone notice me? Do they know that I only have one personality trait? Oh no, another tragic flashback..._

OC tried not to wince. What a predicament! She couldn't believe this was happening. "Yeah, it seems like he does," she lied. Maybe she could convince Expendable to give Muddy a chance. He seemed like a pretty minor side character, so that shouldn't be too hard.

 _Muddy trusted me enough to tell me her secret. Maybe...maybe I can trust her with mine._ OC closed her eyes and thought hard, while Muddy was conveniently silent. Was OC ready to spill her big secret? Was Muddy ready to know? _She's my best friend. I've known her for...for a whole three hours! Plus, she doesn't have enough emotional depth to make evil plans. Yes, it's time. I'm gonna reveal my powers._

"Muddy, I - " OC began.

A scream cut through the air, interrupting her suddenly. OC and Muddy both jumped in surprise. The whole dining area fell silent. For just a moment, the eerie stillness held the air.

Then Expendable bolted back in from the same hall that he'd exited through. His talons scrabbled frantically across the rock floor and his yellow eyes were wide and fearful. "Oh stars!" he shrieked, his voice strangled with terror. "Oh my stars, oh stars!" He tripped on his own talons and fell to the ground. That only added to the drama of the moment. Too panicked to rise, he started screaming. "SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! DEAD! THERE'S BEEN A MURDER!"

The writing became very, very descriptive to let the reader know how important this scene was. OC's jaw dropped. A moment ago, her world had been spinning so smoothly and so fast. Now, it all came to a halt.

Everything just...froze.

"Finally," Subzero said flatly. He was still standing in line for the pile of fish. "Now there's some _real_ drama."


	8. Chapter 7: A Mildly Upsetting Crime

**Chapter 7:**  
 **A Mildly Upsetting Crime**

Tsunami strode forward, her blue eyes shining with suppressed fear. Her body was impossibly tense. "You," she said, placing her talons on Expendable's shoulder. OC could tell she was trying to be gentle, though the trait did not come naturally to the SeaWing "Uh, sorry, I forgot your name already." She looked back at Clay, who was still eating (zero effort had been put into preserving any of Clay's personality). "This guy's not a main character, right?" Tsunami asked.

Clay shrugged and took another bite of his buffalo sandwich. Somewhere in the distance, Peril wept for her boyfriend's mistreatment by the fandom.

"Hey!" Tsunami tried again, shaking Expendable a little too roughly. "What's going on?"

"Wait! Wait!" OC rose from her seat and flung her plate down dramatically. The bread fell everywhere. "Let me help!" OC cried relatably. She flew over the crowd of shocked onlookers and hurried over to Tsunami's side. As the designated heroine of this story, she just HAD to be there at this crucial moment. She threw herself to the ground in front of Expendable, her brilliant, beautiful, multi-colored gaze blazing with sympathy for him. Her glorious wings shook as she hugged the poor, poor side character. She was the very image of an empathetic hero.

Tsunami stepped back "Um, okay," Tsunami said, "you can help if you want." The SeaWing took a deep breath and steadily said to Expendable, "Tell me what happened."

"Will you TELL me what HAPPENED TO YOU, Expendable?" OC asked much more relatably, with much more dramatic inflection. Tsunami glanced at her.

Expendable looked up at them. Fat, salty tears slid down his trembling cheeks and dripped off his chin. His face was all scrunched up and covered in snot; apparently he did not cry all gracefully and heroically like OC did. He rubbed at his eyes and gasped, "Hold...hold on...I've just been traumatized..." For just a moment, his mind rushed with a legitimate storm of shock and fear. Then he looked at OC and returned to his usual thoughts of crushing on her. _I'm soooo lucky. I got her attention! Also, I'm probably scarred for life now. OC has beautiful eyes!_

"I...I didn't see...who it was," Expendable explained slowly. "I just heard...a scream...a scream..."

"Then what? What did you see?" OC reached out to wipe the tears from his face. Then she realized that the action might have romantic subtext, so she pulled back. _Can't encourage his creepy crush thing_ , she thought.

Expendable held out the pause for suspense. _Will OC like me if I keep the suspense? Oh no, I'd better just get on with it._ Sniffling and snorting sadly, he continued: "I ran down that corridor - you know, the dark, creepy one with a foreboding atmosphere - and I saw...I saw...the blood."

OC let another lonely tear slide down her face (her third one this day; she was getting quite good at it) "Oh, that sounds terrible, I feel so much sadness for y - "

"Don't you want to know who died?" Expendable asked.

"Oh." OC stopped wallowing in her own sorrow and gave him a relatable nod. "Yeah. Keep going."

"It was...ANEMONE!" he exclaimed, and wailed. The whole crowd gasped."Wait, never mind, it wasn't her." Anemone was too important to already be dead. Besides, the readers would flip out if she was killed off in anything, even a satirical fanfic. The first murder would have to be someone useless, someone nobody really cared about. Expendable thought for a moment. "It was...ISLET!" he shouted, and wailed again. The whole crowd gasped.

A faint cry sounded from the fish pile. Relatably confused, OC turned and saw Subzero looking mildly upset.

"She was the only realistic character here, albeit an insignificant background one, but at least she had a good name!" The IceWing stopped descaling his trout and studied his bloody talons. "I can't believe it. I can't believe it. We had _one_ decent dragon in our winglet, and someone had to go kill her."

OC's talons clenched into fists. She was filled with courage, with determination, and with the plot of this story. "We'll avenge Islet," she said, stomping her foot on the ground with enough determination-fueled strength to scare Expendable. "Subzero, I promise I'll get justice for her."

Subzero picked one of the fins off of his fish. "Actually, I'm not that upset about - "

"I'll h-help you, OC!" Muddy stood up and spread her wings as she stammered out her pledge. "I'll help y-you catch the k-killer!" She flew over to OC and shyly stood next to her. This whole scene had conveniently unfolded at the very center of the dining area, providing an excellent view for everyone.

"Thanks, Muddy," OC whispered, flashing her a beautiful, hopeful smile. "I know we can do this." She threw her shoulders back, straightened her wings, and prepared to make an epic speech that would calm down the scared masses of students. "None of you know anything about me, but please, trust me!" she began, in a clear, confident voice that rang inspiringly throughout the dining hall, "Please don't freak out about the possible mass murderer on campus. I'm new here, and I'm just a normal, relatable student, but I'm gonna save you all. " Her lovely words lightened the mood of the entire horrified crowd.

Subzero heaved a great sigh and walked over to Muddy, OC, and Expendable. His satchel, which was slung over his shoulder again, now smelled of fish and papaya. OC wondered how much food he had crammed in there. He shuffled his wings and nodded stiffly to OC.

"I'll help," he said, exasperated, "if only to make sure I'm not killed before writing my exposé of this institution."

"Well, you're being awful cynical today, Subzero," Expendable muttered, wiping away more tears with his wing. _I hope OC notices me after this. Do key witnesses often become love interests? Oh, she's gorgeous. OC is amazing._

Subzero grabbed the SkyWing and pulled him up onto his feet. "Shut up and show me the body."

The sea of onlooking dragonets parted, giving them a clear path to the exit. OC gulped. The weight of her promise finally hit her. She had just vowed to catch a murderer. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._

OC suddenly remembered Tsunami and Clay. She looked around for them. As usual, they were nowhere to be found. _Those dragonets of destiny sure have a knack for disappearing right when the plot thickens_ , OC thought, puzzled. They were probably already off doing a crossover story or angsting in one-shots. That meant it was all up to her, the relatable hybrid heroine, to solve this mystery.

"Hold on," someone called out behind them.

"I'm sorry," OC turned and began politely, "but I've already assembled my cliché team of three friends and - "

She stopped. It was Hotness. Hotness, looking at her with coffee-colored eyes of warmth and attractiveness. Hotness, stepping forward and romantically reaching out to offer his help. OC stared at his face and completely forgot about the mystery she was suppose to be solving. When their gazes met, the whole world paused and let their hearts connect.

"Never...never mind," she murmured romantically, "You can help us too, Hotness. I'm sure you'll be a _big_ help. I mean, like, like with the mystery and everything. That 'big' comment wasn't innuendo or anything. Because that would be totally inappropriate." Blushing hot pink, she covered her face with her wings. "No, I mean, hold on..." She started fanning herself. He was just soooo attractive. She couldn't even focus!

 _I should confess my love to her right now!_ Hotness thought, tilting his head and blinking adorably as he looked at her.

"Oh yes, Oceancurse, go ahead and take your time! It's not like there's a MURDERER on the loose who might MURDER someone!" Subzero shouted. He was already dragging Expendable toward the exit. "I was being sarcastic, by the way. Will you two hurry it up?!"

OC sighed romantically. Her amazing moment with Hotness would have to wait for later. _Sorry, my love_ , she thought dramatically. She took Hotness's talons in her own - they were so warm and attractive - and pulled him along with her as she rushed after the rest of her team. "Let's go!"


	9. Chapter 8: Super Serious Investigating

**Chapter 8:**  
 **Super Serious Investigating**

Expendable led them down the hall, occasionally stopping to compliment OC. OC was not an irritable sort of dragon, but his constant adoration was starting to annoy her. Subzero kept grumbling, and Hotness romantically held her talons the whole time. Muddy fell behind the rest of the group, stuttering optimistic bits of advice that nobody really asked for or cared about. Meanwhile, OC went over her options in her head.

 _I could reveal my powers to the dragonets of destiny and help them solve this mystery. Logically, we would get more done if I just told them right now and let them use my mindreading and prophecy skills to save the school. It would also probably save me all the trouble of having to reveal them at an inopportune time._ OC sighed and shook her head. _No, no. I'm too SHY to do something like that, even if it may be our only chance of stopping killer. And no-one will BELIEVE ME. It's not like my powers are super easy to prove by predicting stuff or telling dragons their thoughts!_

Her stomach was starting to clench up. She wrapped her wings around herself. Either she was anxious, or that bread she'd eaten wasn't gluten free. The telltale twist of indigestion started, and she knew that it was the bread. She tried to ignore it and focus on her other, more serious internal struggle.

 _Besides,_ she reasoned relatably, _as Subzero said, the dragonets are really, really bad at running this school. We're better off just solving the crime without their help_.

While OC struggled with the moral dilemma of withholding her crucial skills from everyone ( _did_ it make her a horrible dragon?), Hotness started attractively flirting with her.

"Hey," he said, simultaneously bashful and handsome and sweet, "OC, I wish we could hang out under different circumstances. I know this is an awkward time, but - "

"It is indeed a very awkward time," Subzero snapped. Hotness and OC both frowned at him.

They all halted abruptly as Expendable stopped to look around a corner. He turned back to them, gulped, and said, "She's right there. I should warn you..."

OC patted his shoulder reassuringly. She instantly regretted doing so when the image of their wedding popped into his head. "Let's have a look at, uh, whatever her name is." She felt bad for forgetting the victim's name already, but it wasn't like this was a main character or anything. She walked past Expendable bravely.

* * *

The scene was incredibly tragic and poignant. So tragic and poignant, in fact, that a description of it would be rated higher than K+.

Subzero let out a soft whistle. " _This_ will certainly get the school closed. Imagine the uproar when I report all of this." From his satchel, he withdrew a papaya-stained notepad and started scribbling down notes.

OC let a single sympathetic tear slide down her cheek. Hotness offered her an attractive shoulder to lean on, and she buried her face in his warm wing. Expendable stood beside them, a typhoon of envy sweeping through his mind.

"Guys! Y-you l-left me behind!" Muddy, who had fallen a bit further behind than they'd thought, stumbled into the scene. She looked first to Expendable, then to OC, then to the dead SeaWing on the ground.

As soon as the initial shock passed, the MudWing's mind started swirling with old, once-buried memories. Muddy covered her face and started crying. _Oh moons. Oh moons and mud. She's really dead. This is just like the war. Oh moons, there's blood everywhere. I can't believe I'm the ONLY one having a realistic reaction to this._

"Oh dear." OC rushed forward to grab Muddy before the brown dragonet collapsed. "I forgot she had a tragic backstory!" Despite OC's efforts, Muddy would not calm down. "Get her to the infirmary! She needs help, medicine or...or character development or something!"

"We have an infirmary?" Subzero asked. He looked genuinely surprised for once.

Hotness attractively replied, "Yeah, it's right next to the Foreshadowing Classroom. Why?"

Subzero shrugged. "Well, I just assumed with all the obvious deficiencies in the school..."

"SOMEONE HELP MUDDY!" OC shouted, relatably frustrated that nobody was doing anything. She pointed at Expendable. "You! Aren't you also traumatized?! Take her there!"

Expendable fidgeted and thought, _I don't want to go! I must be at OC's side. What if she's murdered while I'm gone? Hotness will be the one to romantically hold her as she dies!_ He looked around as if he didn't know she was talking to him.

Hotness attractively stepped up and took Muddy from OC. "I'll do it," he said with attractive concern. "You can keep investigating without me. Plus there's a slim chance that Expendable was the murderer all along, and I don't want to risk it." He longingly touched OC's wing before starting to lead Muddy away. The poor, shy MudWing was now sobbing about her dead brother, who would not be mentioned again until the prequel of this story.

"Wait." OC watched them go in quiet agony. Investigating a murder would have been the perfect way for her to bond with Hotness. It was as if the universe, or some other cruel force deciding their fates, was preventing their love from blossoming. OC sighed relatably before focusing back on the murder investigation (which was not quite as important as her romantic side-plot, but noteworthy nonetheless).

"Okay," she said, "Subzero, let me sketch this out on your notepad. We'll need to remember all the details. I'm sure there's some obvious foreshadowing here that we're missing."

Subzero glared at her. "While you were busy watching Hotness go, I did that myself." He showed her his drawing. It was neatly labelled and perfectly functional.

"That's great, but let me try." OC snatched the pencil and paper from him. She didn't want to brag, because she was so relatably modest, but she was a brilliant artist with more natural talent than any other dragon in all of Pyrrhia. So relatable. She artisticly sketched away, composing a tragically beautiful and impossibly accurate picture of the scene. Once she had captured everything with her amazing drawing skills, she handed Subzero's stuff back to him. He said nothing.

The three investigators proceeded to circle the body, looking for clues. Expendable found a bloody footprint, which OC eagerly sketched. "This could be a lead!" she exclaimed.

"Or it could be your footprint," Subzero pointed out quickly.

OC frowned and said, "But it looks like a NightWing's." She knew this because, in addition to being relatable, kind, artistic, and brave, she was also very clever.

The IceWing rolled his eyes. " _Your_ feet look like a NightWing's."

OC looked down to check. He was right. Apparently she had inherited the NightWing foot shape as well as supernatural powers. Of course, her talons were exceptionally sharp and pretty, and colored in shades of silver and blue. Those qualities must have come from another side of her hybrid heritage.

"What's this?!" Expendable's voice shook a little as he prodded the body. "I think...I think there's a note under her."

"Really?" OC was shocked that she hadn't noticed it before. Such important discoveries should be made by the heroine, not the unspecial supporting characters. "Roll her over. I've got to see that."

He squirmed uncomfortably. "Do I have to?" The SkyWing looked profoundly disturbed now, close to vomiting. The grisly spectacle was starting to get to OC as well. Subzero was the only one who seemed unperturbed, and given his usual limited display of emotion, he was probably just faking.

After reaching a sort of unspoken agreement, they all grabbed Islet (OC finally remembered her name) and shifted her over to find a scrap of parchment underneath. The paper was folded and stained with blood. One of the edges was ragged, as if it had been torn off of a larger scroll. There was writing on it. Mysterious, murder-y writing.

OC sucked in a startled breath as she read the words. The combined fear of all three of them flashed through her mind. Closing her eyes, she reminded herself to stay strong, brave, and relatable.

"This is getting really creepy," Expendable murmured in a shaky voice. OC was a relieved to hear him make an intelligent observation instead of trying to hit on her. Of course, he messed it up by saying, "OC, I'll protect you if a murderer ever tries to kill you. Not that a murderer would ever want to kill you. Because you're beautiful and amazing and wonderful."

"You know what's really creepy?" Subzero growled. "Your obsession with Oceancurse."

OC shook her head and refolded the note. "We shouldn't linger here any longer. It might not be safe." Her shimmering rainbow eyes darted around. Threatening shapes seemed to dance in the shadows. With a killer on the loose, was anywhere safe? She suddenly felt very scared for Muddy and Hotness. She couldn't have a romantic subplot if her cute crush was killed! _Focus, OC._ "Let's head to the library. We'll probably coincidentally find some important information there."

The trio skirted around Islet's body and left her behind for some less important characters to clean up, setting off toward the library with their newfound clues in their talons.


	10. Chapter 9: Boring Events in the Library

**Chapter 9:  
Boring Events in the Library**

OC, Subzero, and Expendable crowded around a table in Jade Mountain Academy's cozy library. Their notes were spread out before them, along with an assortment of snacks that Subzero had taken out of his bag.

"I hope Muddy is okay," OC said. Her heart went out to her best friend, and she secretly hoped that Hotness would be able to join them soon. The attractive SandWing was so nice that he probably wouldn't leave Muddy's side until he knew she was all right.

Subzero scowled and asked, "Who thought it was a good idea to let the former child soldier see a bloody corpse, again?" A scroll entitled "Non-Magical Forensics" lay open in front of him. His messy claws had smeared chocolate and papaya across the bottom of it. He didn't seem to notice. He was thinking, rather nonchalantly, _I should have grabbed that peach pie._

OC was now pretty accustomed to blocking out Expendable's thoughts. The SkyWing was sitting next to Subzero, sorting through their sketches and notes. OC knew that he was still thinking about her. If they could just wrap up this whole murder mystery plot soon, perhaps OC would have some time to play matchmaker with him and Muddy. _About now would be a good time for me to have a mystery-solving prophecy vision!_ she thought, frustrated with the unpredictable, plot-controlled nature of her powers.

"I suggest interrogating Expendable now," Subzero snipped at her. "He's probably not the killer, judging by his less-than-foreshadowy name, but you never can be too careful." He rose from the table and started back toward the shelves of scrolls.

"What are you doing?" she asked, eyeing the scrolls that Subzero had left open on the table. Most of them were related to crime and detective work, except for one called "L'Étranger", which Subzero had been perusing for some reason.

"I'm going to talk with Starflight. If any of those incompetent 'dragonets of destiny' can help us, it's the smart one." Subzero took one more annoyed bite out of his papaya before turning and leaving.

Doing her best to ignore Expendable's barrage of embarrassingly romantic thoughts, OC picked up a pen and a scroll. "Okay, Expendable," she said, "I'm gonna start asking some questions. Just answer all the ones you can." With her convenient mindreading powers, she would be able to tell if he was being honest. However, something told OC that Expendable would never lie to _her_. "When exactly did the murder happen?"

 _She's so beautiful when she asks questions._ "I didn't see it, but I heard the scream right after I left the dining hall. Then I ran down the hall and I...I saw Islet," Expendable said, his voice dwindling as he spoke the victim's name.

OC quickly jotted down his answer in eloquent cursive. "Did you see anyone else in the hall?"

"I didn't see anyone else in the hall, but I saw two other students go into a classroom. They were running, like they were in a rush for some reason." Expendable's face scrunched up as he tried to recall. "It was a SkyWing and a SeaWing. Oh! Herring and Red. Those are their names."

"Red and Herring." OC nodded relatably and wrote down their names. "We have to investigate them." She wasn't exactly sure how this investigating thing worked yet. Was she suppose to track down Red and Herring and interrogate them? Should she stalk them for a while, to look for leads? _That would be kinda creepy_ , she thought. Hopefully her heroic instincts would kick in soon and help her figure out what to do.

"You're sure you didn't see any other dragons? Nobody suspicious hanging around?" OC asked, just to be certain she had all the information.

Expendable shook his head. "No." He looked a little unsure.

OC entered his mind (this breach of Expendable's privacy was totally fine and raised no ethical questions whatsoever). She dug around in his memories, looking for the exact moment when he discovered the body. While shuffling through his thoughts, she ran into several dreams about herself, making the whole experience very awkward. Apparently Expendable wanted to get married and raise five kids with her. That was not the type of information she needed right now.

When she finally found the scene she was looking for, she saw that Expendable was telling the truth. There was one thing he forgot to mention: the heavy, mysterious footsteps that he'd heard on the other side of the hall. He probably assumed they weren't important.

 _Footsteps!_ OC thought. _Maybe those prints_ were _important! Why didn't I take the time to sketch those? They're probably all cleaned up by now._

"OC?" Expendable waved his claws in front of OC's face.

She straightened up, immediately exiting his thoughts. "Huh?"

"You were kinda staring at me. Very intensely. In fact, I feel like we made a deep connection, and our lives are now romantically intertwined." Expendable fidgeted in his seat. "Or not. Ha ha. Just kidding. Was that creepy? I'm not...uh, I didn't mean that last part." He looked away. "I'm sorry."

OC resisted the urge to slam her face on the table. "Sorry. I was, uh, really tired," she lied relatably. Expendable winced, realizing that he'd just poured his soul out to her for nothing, and OC felt bad for him.

"So, the investigation!" OC said to try and get them back on track. "We have to interview Red and Herring. Then we can start looking around for more witnesses."

Her shiny talons twitched toward the spot on the table where Subzero's bag used to be. Then she remembered that the IceWing had taken it with him. _Dang it. The creepy murder note is still in there. I sure hope Subzero isn't the murderer. He could be tampering with the evidence right now._ He seemed more like a sidekick kind of character, so she assumed that she was safe.

OC flipped through the scrolls. She was so relatably shy and bookish that she felt at home in the library. Sighing a little, she recalled a peaceful day of reading with her mother, long before her tragic backstory happened. She was about to begin a heatrending flashback scene when Expendable spoke again.

He said her name very softly. "OC." She braced herself for another long-winded, slightly creepy compliment. Instead, he said, "I'm scared. You saw what the note said. You saw everything that - "

"I know," she cut in. "I know this is all crazy and we're probably gonna be solving this mystery for the next ten or so chapters." She looked down and picked at one of the scrolls with her beautiful talons. "But I think we'll be okay." Glancing up at him, she saw that he wasn't one bit reassured by this. So, while hoping to all the stars that she wasn't worsening his crush on her, she continued, "You know, Expendable, there's this this my mom used to say. 'Stay secret, stay...' Wait, no that was another hero's catchphrase." She smacked her head. "Oops. My mom used to say _this_ : 'Stay strong, stay brave, stay relatable.'"

"Thanks. That...that was nice. Irrelevant, but nice." Expendable smiled at her. A real, mildly attractive smile. He was, indeed, a mildly attractive dragon. Maybe even attractive enough to be part of a central love triangle.

They both looked down at their scrolls and notes. There was, after all, a mass murderer lose in their school. OC didn't have time for things like 'character development' or 'actual realistic friendships'. Still, as she struggled to focus on the paper she was reading, OC couldn't help but relatably wish she had time to talk to Expendable.


	11. Chapter 10: Starflight Does Nothing

**Chapter 10:**  
 **Starflight Does Nothing**

Subzero returned to their table, followed by a blind, useless Starflight. Both of them were holding stacks of scrolls. OC looked up at them hopefully. Surely at least one of those scrolls could help solve the mystery!

"What did you find?" she asked with relatable eagerness. She noticed Starflight stumbling around blindly and stood up to help him take a seat. He tried to shake her off and called her Fatespeaker.

Throwing his scrolls down on a nearby table, Subzero growled, "I found about twenty scrolls pertaining to murder, magic, and handwriting analysis. Starflight did absolutely nothing. For moons' sake, Starflight, you are _blind_ not _dead_." The once-heroic NightWing responded by tripping over a rock and yelping pathetically. Subzero sighed, looked at OC, and threw his talons in the air. "I am done with this guy," he snapped, plopping his sparkly white rear down in the chair next to OC.

"In his defense," Expendable said with a sympathetic glance toward Starflight, "none of the other dragonets of destiny are any help, either. At least he has an excuse."

"A cruddy excuse!" Subzero shot back. Grumbling to himself and thinking some very nasty thoughts, he unrolled a long, yellowed scroll. "We live in a world with advanced magic and science, populated by several complexly governed nations," he muttered, "and NOBODY has invented books yet. Ridiculous. It's all ridiculous."

Relatably confused, OC lifted Starflight off the ground and patted him on the back. "Let's take this one step at a time. Starflight, did you find anything important? Anything that might help us?"

Starflight fumbled with a chair until OC pulled it out for him. "I think so," he said. "I was going to tell Subzero about some really important stuff, but - alas! - I was distracted by my own nerdiness and self-pity." His head was filled with random questions like: _Where is Sunny? Why is OC soooo perfect? Why does everyone hate writing about me? Seriously, why is she perfect? It's actually really weird._

"All right," OC said, "look, Starflight, I know you love being nerdy and pitiful, but we _really_ need your help right now. Can you please act kinda smart, like you used to in the canon series, just for a little while? Please?"

Starflight thought for a moment. _I can't. Oh gosh, I'm blind! Well...I do wish I were correctly characterized for once. I guess I can try to pull myself together for this beautiful, inspiring hero._ He turned toward where he thought OC was (she was actually standing more to the left) and tried to nod at her. OC smiled and hoped that Starflight didn't have a crush on her. He promptly fell in love with her.

"You know, I'm really nerdy and relatable too," OC said honestly. Starflight looked at her (in a blind way, or whatever blind dragons do; the author was rushed and didn't do any revisions on this chapter, okay?).

Expendable gently tapped OC's arm. "Hey, OC, I love you and all, but, uh, let's stay on topic." He was clearly just jealous of Starflight having her attention. OC did her best to ignore all the romantic tension that was filling the room.

"I don't know what the crime scene looked like, obviously. Because, in case you forgot, I'm blind," Starflight began. Everyone leaned in to hear him. His voice was quiet since he was shy or something. "BUT from what Subzero told me, I believe that this crime...was a calculated conspiracy! It was committed with the murderer's bare claws, by slashing Islet's throat, in the hall, while she was on her way to the Science classroom."

"How in Pyrrhia do you know all that?!" Subzero exclaimed, dropping his scroll. "I didn't even tell you Islet's name!"

Starflight shrugged. "I'm the smart one. Don't question it."

"Wait, wait, wait." Expendable's mildly attractive amber eyes narrowed a little. "Does this mean Starflight is the murderer? I mean, I'm not the most realistic character either, but there's no way he can know all that."

OC read Starflight's mind and saw that the nerdy NightWing was telling the truth. "No," she said, patting Starflight on the shoulder, "he's just the smart one. Don't question it, guys." Starflight nodded, bumping into her arm in the process because he was blind. He recoiled and almost fell off of his chair.

Subzero sighed and took a bite out of a mango (did he _ever_ run out of snacks?). "That's all well and good, then," the IceWing said flatly, his voice a bit muffled by the fruit, "but we still don't know who the murderer is. Any chance your nerd powers will tell us about that?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know who it is. That's up to your team of heroes." Starflight dramatically swooned. "I'm afraid my days of heroism are over." Sadly, the plot of this story would not allow him to help them anymore.

"Well, that's not fair," Subzero snapped. Starflight shrugged again and thought, _I don't make the rules._

OC sighed relatably. "That's all right. Thanks, anyway, Starflight." The NightWing was still awkwardly sitting there and fidgeting, so she added, "Uh, if you want, you can go now."

Starflight quickly got up, waved her away as she tried to help him, and stumbled off tripping and muttering about his blindness all the while, presumably to star in a romantic/tragic Sunnyflight fanfiction or something like that. He ran into a shelf, insisted that he was okay, and disappeared to the other side of the library.

Once he was out of ear-shot, Subzero growled, "Yet another waste of time."

"It's a shame that we lack the technology to, like, look for DNA and stuff," OC said sadly, "and that nobody here has magic powers. It's not like anyone with animus powers is hiding them instead of using them to help. That...that would be bad." Suddenly, she felt icky and guilty inside. She put her head down and avoided her friends' eyes. _How could I do this to them?_!

"Are you okay?" Expendable and Subzero both asked at the same time.

His eyes darting between both of them, Subzero quickly clarified, "I meant that in a platonic way."

"Yeah. I'm fine." OC sighed again, all beautiful and tragic, before returning to her investigative papers. Expendable's head was now filled with worries, concerns for her safety, and Subzero was thinking about...cake recipes. "I sure hope Hotness and Muddy return soon," she said softly, setting up the opening of the next chapter.


	12. Chapter 11: A Million-Something Question

**Chapter 11:**  
 **A Million-Something Question**

"How's it going?"

OC looked up and romantically saw Hotness enter the library. Her heart began beating double-time. Chills danced sambas up and down her scales as she met his dark, attractive eyes. Everything stopped. OC hoped that these adjective laden interludes of romance wouldn't happen _every_ time she made eye contact with Hotness. It was starting to get annoying.

Just as Subzero was shouting "Horrible!", Expendable replied with "Great!" They both pretended not to care, while secretly thinking, _What the heck?_

OC stood up to grab a chair for Hotness. She suddenly became endearingly clumsy, stumbling as she tried to offer him a seat. _I'm so relatable and awkward!_ she thought, her color-changing scales blushing with bright shades of pink and purple.

"Hey, I'm b-back!" Muddy stuttered. She shyly followed Hotness in, and everyone in the room realized that they hadn't missed her. _Poor Muddy_ , OC thought, before returning to her subplot with Hotness.

Hotness sat down and slowly looked at all of his friends, letting his gaze stop on OC as he thought about how special and natural and pretty she was. _I guess the one good thing about this mystery is that I get to spend time with her_ , he thought. Even OC had to admit that was sappy. "Did you find anything while we were gone?" he asked, his warm baritone voice melting OC's chocolate heart.

"Uh, yeah," OC said, trying not to stutter, since Muddy was back and stuttering was her thing. "Subzero, where's that creepy note we found? The one that we've avoided mentioning to create even more mystery about?"

For a moment, Subzero was confused, then he remembered and reached into his satchel, thinking, _Ugh, there's blood all over my stuff_. "I've got it here. Give me a second." _Noooo, not my mini muffins! Why did I put the evidence in here? Oh moons, their stupidity must be rubbing off on me._ After shuffling around and spilling some glitter and gel pens out of his bag, he withdrew a slightly more crumpled murder-note.

OC took it from him and held it up dramatically. "Check this out," she said, and began reading it. The lights in the library flickered, making it even more creepy. "It says: 'I am the insane murderer. I am the death of hope. Beware my evil master. Beware the plot twist.'"

"Ooh, that's c-c-creepy," Muddy gasped, shaking like a leaf. OC hoped she wasn't going to faint again. Her poor friend had already been through enough today.

"Super creepy," Expendable agreed. _Will OC think I'm a scaredy-cat for saying that? Why is Hotness looking at her like that? Am I going to be part of the plot twist?_

Subzero rolled his eyes. "Dead SeaWing, creepy note, and crazy murder dragon. Okay, Hotness and Muddy are all caught up now. Are you all going to keep wasting time on this foreshadowing crud or are we actually going to do something now?"

Hotness frowned, drawing OC's attention to his hot, chiseled jawline, and raised his talons to get Subzero's attention. "Hold on, Sub. Uh, can I call you that now?"

The IceWing glared at him. "What am I, a sandwich? No!"

"Well, okay then," Hotness said. _Sandwiches are cool, though_ , he thought, slightly offended. "But listen...What if the note is a trick? What if the murderer isn't crazy?"

 _What an intelligent observation!_ OC's eyes widened. It could be true! This proved Hotness was way more than a one-dimensional love interest.

"What makes you think that?" Expendable asked. He picked at a scroll with his claws, trying to ignore the way OC kept looking at Hotness like he was her soulmate.

Hotness shrugged. "I don't know. It just seemed...logical. Nobody who's really insane would say 'I am the insane murderer'."

"I don't know," Subzero grumbled. "Have you heard some of the ham-fisted dialogue that dragons around here speak in?" _Including myself, now that I think about it_ , he thought, plunging himself into quiet moment of self reflection.

OC nodded relatably. "It makes sense, Hotness, but that means we don't have a motive. If the murderer isn't crazy, then why else would they be murdering dragons?" She quickly grabbed a blank scroll and began writing a list of possible motives.

As a pure, innocent heroine, she couldn't even imagine what would make a dragon angry enough to _kill_ someone. The fact that she'd grown up during a time of terrible, bloody warfare didn't matter because, really, does anyone care about continuity anymore?

"That's the million dollar question, isn't it?" Subzero said, wry as ever. "Wait, we don't have dollars. Um, that's the million...money question? Does our society have money?" He looked at Hotness, who shook his head. Subzero sighed. "Whatever. That's the million-something question."

"T-treasure, maybe?" Muddy offered meekly, while pondering the effect that a strictly trade-and-barter system had on her tribe's foreign relations.

"Or prey. Prey is valuable," Expendable chipped in, pondering the foreign relations that he hoped to have with OC.

Subzero gave them all a serious look. "We really ought to establish a universal monetary system. It would do wonders for all of our kingdoms' societies, especially mine." He shook his head and picked up the creepy note. "BUT as much as I love ranting about government, we should really focus on this murder mystery. Right, Oceancurse?"

OC nodded and made a careful note not to use human idioms. They were very hard to translate into Pyrrhia's dragonspeak.

Hotness cleared his throat (somehow he made the sound attractive) and made another intelligent suggestion. "Maybe it was a revenge killing? Boto, Allure, and Plottwister came in second place to Islet's team in last week's relay race."

OC's spine tingled and her scales turned pale green. Allure and Plottwister were bullies, but were they murderers? She wondered if their spiteful natures could ever lead them to do something this bad.

"We should keep an eye on Islet's teammates, Ostrich and Alba. If they're attacked, then we know it was Allure's squad," Subzero said. He too seemed skeptical of those dragons' ability to kill, thinking, _As if Allure would ever get her spoiled little claws dirty with a murder_. OC was glad to know that her friends disliked that bully as much as she did. Hate sure was a great thing to bond over!

"Remember Red and Herring. They were near the crime scene," Expendable reminded OC. "I don't know about a motive, but they didn't seem to like Islet much. Never talked to her."

"Well, I don't think any of us did," Hotness said sadly, his voice full of genuine empathy (how sweet and attractive!). _If only I hadn't been so attractively busy doing other super nice things, I could have been her friend_ , he thought.

OC put the 'Possible Motives' list aside and started a list of suspects. As relatably reluctant as she was to accuse other students, they had no choice if they wanted to solve the mystery and save the school.

"G-guys," Muddy said. She gulped shyly, feeling nervous with all their attention on her, and started saying, "I h-have a theory - "

"Attention, library!" A bright, friendly voice interrupted her. Everyone in the library (it was really just OC's group, a sleeping teacher, and Starflight in there), stopped and looked at the entrance.

Sunny was standing there, a big, fake smile plastered all over her friendly face. She seemed distressed. With her powers, OC could hear the dragonet of destiny's panicked mind from across the room. _Poor Sunny_ , OC thought. _This is, like, the fourth mass panic at her school._

"There is a mandatory meeting in the main hall! Please go there at once, and please, please, _please_ don't kill anyone. Please. I'm begging you all." Still smiling and trying her darn hardest to be friendly, Sunny started crying and ran away down the hall.

Starflight stumbled out after her, bumping into three shelves, two walls, and a table before he found the door.

Expendable immediately looked to OC. "Should we go?" he asked her.

"It _is_ m-mandatory," Muddy mumbled.

Subzero was still glaring icily at where Sunny had been standing. "They're just going to lie and try to trick us into feeling safe," he said. "Like this school wasn't already bad enough! It's pointless. We should all keep investigating."

OC stared at the scrolls in front of her. She hadn't noticed before, but they had flecks of blood on them. From Subzero's bag or from her own talons? Her stomach lurched. "No," she said, as calmly and clearly as she could, "let's go. We could use a break." She looked around, suddenly feeling uneasy and vulnerable, like something was watching them. Something bad. "Besides," she added, turning her scales a pleasant shade of blue to hide her fear, "I don't feel very safe here."

Subzero whined a bit but eventually agreed to go. The five dragonets left the library together. When they entered the hall, Hotness slipped his talons into OC's, and, much to Expendable's agony, she held onto him the whole time. _I'd love to be tricked into feeling safe right now_ , she thought, relatably scared.


	13. Chapter 12: EXCESSIVE CAPS LOCK

**Chapter 12:**  
 **EXCESSIVE CAPS LOCK**

OC and her group of assorted yet cliché friends sat down in the back of the large cave that everyone was meeting in. The entirety of the school's population was now crowded together. There were only about thirty-five students attending the academy (seriously, look in the book and do the math), but for the sake of drama, it seemed like there were way more.

The mass of frightened dragonets, all murmuring and thinking, gave OC a relatable headache. She clutched Hotness, leaned on his shoulder, and tried to focus on his bland, romantic thoughts so she would not be overwhelmed. Subzero noticed how touchy-feely they were getting and made a gagging expression.

Expendable looked at her sadly. Thankfully, OC could not hear his thoughts through the chaos in her head. She was sure that they were full of mildly attractive angst.

"L-look guys! It's T-Tsunami!" Muddy said, pointing. OC was still impressed by her friend's ability to stutter on silent letters.

Principle Tsunami, who obviously did not have the credentials for that title, cleared her throat and stared out at everyone from behind a podium. OC watched the SeaWing closely. Like any good-hearted, relatable hero, she looked up to the dragonets of destiny in spite of their plot-necessitated stupidity. She looked into Hotness's mind and saw that he shared her innocent admiration. That made him even more attractive.

Clay, Sunny, Starflight, and Webs stood with Tsunami and exchanged nervous glances with each other. Fatespeaker wasn't there because nobody cares about Fatespeaker or writes any fanfiction about her.

"Students of Jade Mountain Academy," Tsunami shouted, banging her fists on the podium, "listen up!"

Was her voice trembling slightly? Before Tsunami could experience any sort of character development (as if this OC-centric fanfic would allow that!), Sunny cut in with some sad but friendly exposition.

"As the founders of this school, we want to talk to you guys about...a recent event," the SandWing said, sniffling and covering her face with her wings. "Some scary stuff has been going on recently. Some dragons have been hurt."

Tsunami tapped Sunny on the shoulder. "You can say 'murder', you know," the sea dragon muttered. "Half of these students killed other dragonets in the war."

Finally giving into her panic, Sunny collapsed on the floor and started sobbing. "Oh, Tsunami! This is awful! I can't even bear the sight of blood!" Everyone, including the author of this story, had forgotten that Sunny was the one who saved Pyrrhia in _The Brightest Night_. Clay rushed over to help Sunny, but he was soon distracted by his hunger and left the room to look for ham.

"This is an honest presentation that is not intended to mislead you!" Starflight said blindly. He spread his wings out to get everyone's attention, accidentally hitting Webs in the face. Webs stumbled backwards into Tsunami, who growled at him and tried to step back. She tripped over Sunny, fell down, and didn't get up.

OC watched this all happen in relatable shock. All of the dragons around her started talking and thinking very loudly. OC felt like she was going to not-so-relatably vomit. _No, no! Calm down_ , she told herself. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._ There was no way to make throwing up seem graceful and beautiful, so she was not going to let that happen.

Hotness wrapped his wings around her. _Oh moons!_ she thought. _Now I really shouldn't throw up._ She turned to her other three friends, still unable to hear their thoughts clearly.

Muddy and Expendable were still staring at the dragonets of destiny. The scene had somehow devolved into a touching moment, with Starflight hugging Sunny and Tsunami punching Webs in the face.

Subzero had vanished. OC looked around, relatably confused. She spotted him near the front of the cave, shoving his way through the crowd. Before she could shout for him, he made his way up to where the speakers were and seized the podium for himself.

"Now, I don't really _care_ ," he said, casting a withering gaze across the room, "but these guys are totally lying and covering up stuff."

The murmuring in the room escalated to a veritable cacophony. Webs grabbed Subzero's arm and tried to get him to leave. Tsunami was yelling at Starflight and Sunny, who were starting to freak out. She ended up restraining Sunny as Starflight regained his composure and frantically tried to calm the students.

"You can trust us! You can trust us!" Starflight shrieked. OC had no idea his voice could go that high.

Sunny threw her head back and screamed, "The woooooooorld is ending! You're all gonna die!" Tsunami quickly put her wings around Sunny to muffle her voice. It was no use. The whole cave descended into madness.

Subzero squirmed out of Webs's grip. Despite being a former Sea Kingdom soldier, Webs was surprisingly unable to hold back a skinny IceWing dragonet. Subzero, presumably done with this mess of a chapter, tried to take off. He stumbled, got stuck in a clump of fighting students, and ended up in joining the scuffle. OC caught one final glimpse of him hitting Allure with his satchel as Plottwister held him in a chokehold.

"Everyone! Everyone!" Webs cried in vain. "Let's not - "

"You know what, Webs?" Tsunami suddenly released Sunny and stalked toward the other SeaWing. "I've been wanting to do this for a while!"

"Tsunami!" Starflight blindly tried to stop her. He ended up running into a wall. Sunny was still crying, except now she was babbling on about how her character arc was never fully resolved.

OC groaned, relatably overwhelmed. She lurched forward. Her head was figuratively spinning. Expendable and Hotness both rushed to help her, awkwardly bumping into each other as they tried to catch her.

"OC, please calm down," Hotness begged, his warm voice full of love and worry for her. _I hope she'll be all right_ , he though attractively. "Do you need some water?"

"OC, I love you! I would languish and wither away if you ever died or rejected me!" Expendable gasped.

Hotness tightened his grip on OC. "Seriously, _not now_ , Expendable," he said with a hint of handsome impatience.

Their attractive words of comfort did nothing. The world seemed to slow down, the noises fading into a roar of sound, and she threw up all over both of them. Somehow she managed to look pretty and relatable.

"YOU ABANDONED MY BOYFRIEND!" Tsunami had backed Webs into a corner and was giving him the scolding of his life. For a dragon incapable of breathing fire, she sure knew how to roast. "HE GREW UP IN SHAME WHILE YOUR DEADBEAT TAIL WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF PYRRHIA!"

Meanwhile, the students of Jade Mountain Academy were in the throes of mass hysteria. The dragonets of destiny had never seemed more incompetent.

All the shouting. All the crying. All the excessive caps lock.

Chaos.

"THERE'S A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE!"

 _WHY AM I THINKING SO LOUD?!_

"I'M SO SCARED! I'M SO SCARED! I CAN'T DO THIS!"

"WHY IS EVERYONE SHOUTING SO MUCH?!"

"I DID! I DID! I MISS YOU, RIPTIDE!"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO STARSPEAKER?! DOES ANYONE EVEN SHIP THAT?!"

 _So many exclamation points_ , OC thought. She was so relatably embarrassed. Embarrassed and queasy and covered in grossness. She swooned, her eyelids fluttering over her glittering rainbow eyes. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay..._

As she fainted, somebody scooped her up and held her dramatically against his chest. Was it Hotness? Surely it was Hotness. She hoped it was. Or maybe it was Expendable.

The last thing she heard was somebody (probably Subzero) cursing this whole contrived scene. Then there was relatable darkness.


	14. Chapter 13: OC's Convenient Vision

**Chapter 13:**  
 **OC's Convenient Vision**

 _Jade Mountain crumbling. Evil laughter. Dragons screaming. Smoke and fire. Glory and Deathbringer breaking up._

 _What's going on? Why is everything so horrible?_

 _A bunch of random, unimportant dragons screaming in terror and fleeing the school. The dragonets of destiny running and doing something totally irrelevant to the narrative._

 _Is this my fault?_

 _Why are thoughts represented by full, coherent sentences? That's not how it really -_

* * *

OC's eyes relatably flew open as she jolted awake from her terrifying nightmare. Her good, pure heart pounded her chest and desperate breaths flew in and out of her lungs.

She looked around with relatable bewilderment. Seeing a bunch of sick dragonets and outdated medical techniques, she realized that she was in the academy's infirmary. Her low cot had dirty blankets and a rock for a pillow. Apparently the dragonets of destiny had blown their budget on decorating the dormitories, so this was all they could afford.

It was so quiet and peaceful here. She could finally hear herself thinking. Honestly, her thoughts had never been very interesting, but it was comforting all the same. She could also hear her friends' minds. Turning, she saw Muddy, Expendable, Subzero, and Hotness sitting beside her.

Muddy and Expendable were chatting casually. Unsurprisingly, Muddy was super into the conversation, and Expendable was imagining what it would be like to marry OC. Subzero was reading a scroll and debating with Hotness at the same time. They couldn't seem to agree on the morality of granting Blaze amnesty.

"OC!" Hotness exclaimed attractively when he saw that she was awake. Muddy and Expendable both stopped talking, and Subzero looked up from his scroll.

Mosaics of joy danced across OC's scales when she gazed into Hotness's coffee brown eyes. He must have carried her here (though for some reason she felt a bit cold). How romantic! She started getting up, preparing herself for a cute and family-friendly hugging scene, but he gestured for her to stay down. "Hold on," he said, "you might still be sick."

OC shook her head. "I feel fine, guys!" She threw off her blankets, which had been dirtied to an indeterminate color and were covered in suspicious stains. At a school where dragonets were critically injured every other day, she'd expected a slightly cleaner infirmary.

Despite the fact that she'd just thrown up and passed out, OC still smelled like a meadow full of roses and sunshine. In fact, she seemed totally fine and showed no signs of illness. Muddy, Expendable, and Subzero were covered in cuts and bruises from the brawl, Hotness's sheer attractiveness having presumably healed his injuries. They were mere supporting characters, though - who cares about whether they were hurt or not?

OC pressed her talons to her forehead, wincing relatably as she recalled her dream. She suddenly wanted to cry. Something _big_ was coming, and this time, it wasn't because of her gluten allergy.

"I just had - " She stopped herself. Part of her relatably wanted to tell them about her nightmare. She knew in her heart that it was some kind of omen. Still, her other, even more relatable half was preventing her from sharing her powers. They would just think she was even more of an unlovable freak! Her personal comfort was way more important than the safety of the entire school!

She pretended to cough, convincing them all with her perfect acting, and started her sentence over again. "I mean, we can get back to investigating now. We're running out of time." She put on a fake smile.

"That assembly was awful. I think Webs is still missing," Expendable said, shuddering. Though nobody really cared about the old SeaWing (even the canon series had forgotten about him at this point), everyone politely pretended to be sad. "Now we know for sure that the dragonets of destiny can't help us."

" _I_ , for one, knew that the moment I walked into this hopeless place," Subzero grumbled. "Oceancurse, do you still have that suspect list?"

OC looked around for the bag that always appeared when she needed a plot-relevant item. When she found it, she pulled out the list and scanned it with glittering, glowing eyes. Hotness crouched beside her, annoying Expendable greatly.

Since all of the readers had probably forgotten the suspects during the long wait between updates, OC's list was included in the text of the story.

* * *

THE SUSPECT LIST  
Red and Herring - were spotted at the crime scene  
Allure - has a possible motive and is SUPER MEAN to me  
Plottwister - affiliated with Allure and is also a jerk to me  
Boto - I don't even know this guy  
That Teacher in the Library - seems suspicious for some reason

* * *

Muddy shook her head sadly. "We d-don't have many c-clues." She nervously stepped closer to Expendable, who was too busy watching OC to notice. The infirmary's dark lighting and sad mood were starting to remind her of her tragic backstory again.

 _Anyone who is mean to OC is suspicious to me_ , Expendable thought loyally. He gazed at his crush with his mildly attractive eyes.

OC relatably blushed. _Think of Hotness. Think of Hotness. I don't have time for a love triangle..._

Subzero sat back and impatiently fiddled with his talons. "We all know that she's going solve the case," he said, pointing at OC. "Can we hurry up and get this all over with?" _Three moons, I hope she catches the murderer before dinnertime. I'm hungry._

"All...all right," OC said, swaying slightly for some reason. Hotness put his attractive wing around her to steady her. "First we should investigate - "

Suddenly, a storm of visions overtook her relatable mind. She yelped dramatically and collapsed into Hotness's embrace, her wings flashing with brilliant colors. "Aaaargh! Not again!" she cried, a little sick of her magical powers at this point.

A bunch of foreshadowy, mysterious images rushed through OC's head. She saw an animus casting spells from far away, a purple-y dragon writing notes in a room, an author struggling with her parody fanfiction, and a forgettable minor character dying in some generic way.

 _Oh no! Another murder!_ OC thought, gasping aloud. _I have to warn them! I have to tell my friends!_ Just as she finished that thought, her mouth opened against her will, and she spoke in a voice even more melodic and haunting and tragically beautiful than usual.

"The time of the prophecy comes. Beware the arrival of the greater evil. The accomplice lurks near us. Beware, beware, beware." After poetically foretelling a couple plot twists, OC curled up on her cot and shivered. Hotness attractively put his wing around her.

"Was that a p-p-prophecy?" Muddy asked meekly. _OC is prophet? How can that be? This is crazy. What an unexpected reveal!_

Subzero frowned. "I don't think so. It didn't rhyme. It was also frustratingly vague, though I suppose prophecies are as well."

"Rhymes are really hard to come up with, okay?" OC muttered, still out of breath. "I think it was more of a convenient hint." She remembered that she had just foreseen another murder and started to freak out. _Take deep breaths, OC._ _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._ She looked at them all. Her scales - usually full of pretty, relatable colors - were now swirling with dark and foreboding hues.

Her friends had discovered her secret. Well, _one_ of her secrets. Being the main character, she had like a million. But this was a pretty big one. _What will they think of me now?_ she wondered, relatably terrified.


	15. Chapter 14: Mudpendable?

**Chapter 14:**  
 **Mudpendable?**

Expendable stared at OC. "You have magical future visions?!" he exclaimed. "And you didn't tell us?!" His mind was reeling. _I can't believe this! Does she know my future? Does she know if we get married or not? Are we destined to be together?_

"Wow, thanks for not telling us," Subzero said sarcastically. "I feel totally betrayed,"

Hotness helped OC sit up again, valiantly coming to her defense. "We've only known her for one day. Why _would_ she tell us?"

"That's...a really good point. Touché, Hotness." Subzero nodded approvingly and patted the SandWing on the back.

Expendable and Muddy both thought for a moment, came to the same conclusion as Hotness, and decided that they were fine with all of this. OC blinked at them. _So they don't hate me? They don't think I'm a weirdo?_ She let out a sigh of relief. _I guess my whole internal conflict was just setup for a lesson about friendship._ Feeling glad, she let a little bit of light return to her scales. _From now on I'll trust my friends with all of my secrets. Except for my mindreading, of course. And my OTHER SECRET, the one nobody would EVER guess._

"Prophecy, hint, or whatever that was," Hotness said attractively, "it sure sounded ominous. I hope this doesn't mean that someone else is gonna die." Both he and Expendable looked at OC and worried about her safety.

OC gasped again and desperately grabbed Hotness's wing. Not too desperately, though, since she was still a strong, independent main character. _I haven't told them about the vision yet!_ she thought. _This stupid attempt at character development keeps distracting me!_

"A RainWing!" she sobbed. "A RainWing is the next victim. We have to stop this!"

"Is it Glory?" Subzero asked. Now he was worried. "Please tell me it's not Glory. I actually kind of respect her."

OC shook her head. _I don't think so._ Something made her think that it wasn't Glory. Everyone loved Glory too much to kill her off before chapter twenty.

Hotness poked Subzero's wing, trying to get the IceWing back on topic. "OC, do you know who you saw in the vision?" he asked.

"I've only been at this school for a day!" OC cried relatably, throwing her talons up. "I hardly know anyone! All I know is that it was a RainWing. Probably not Allure."

"Well, this is pointless." Subzero rubbed his face and sighed, privately thinking, _I hope it's Kinkajou. She laughed at my ice sculpture._ "For moons' sakes, the RainWing is probably already dead by now. Is it all right if I stop pretending to care?"

"Some of us still want to save the school," Expendable growled. _I hope it's Allure_ , he thought, _because she's so mean to OC._

For a bunch of heroes, OC's friends sure were quick to wish death on their classmates. OC decided to ignore that for now.

"Let's go find all the RainWing students," Hotness said attractively. "We have to warn them. OC, if you're _sure_ you feel fine, then let's go." He helped OC stand up. They hugged quickly. She felt her heart begin to pound again.

"Hurry!" OC cried. "We don't have much time."

Hotness held her talons and started heading toward the door. Pausing, he looked back at the other three dragons. "Aren't you guys going to help?" He gave his IceWing friend a hard look. "Subzero, stop rolling your eyes and do something useful." Subzero rolled his eyes.

"Oh d-dear." Muddy started pacing. "We should f-find the d-dragonets of destiny. E-Expendable, c-come on." She shyly touched Expendable's shoulder, steering him toward the door.

Despite this being a very inopportune time, OC was glad that her friend was finally making a move. Hotness, who apparently hadn't caught onto this whole Mudpendable thing yet, seemed a little confused.

"Hold on, hold on," Expendable yelped. "Uh, maybe I should go with OC and Hotness - "

"No, I think Muddy needs your help more!" Subzero said loudly, shoving Expendable and Muddy off in the same direction. He turned to OC and winked at her.

The MudWing and SkyWing stumbled out of the infirmary together. OC hoped that they wouldn't get too distracted by all of this romantic tension.

"I'm off to warn the rest of our obnoxious winglet," Subzero said, making his way to the exit in a slow, casual way that wasn't very appropriate for this situation. He was still bitterly thinking about Kinkajou. _That sculpture was a work of art! An eloquent expression of dragonkind's deepest struggles! And then that stupid RainWing twerp tried to LICK it. 'Ooh, Subzero, it looks like a kiwi! Ha ha, it's all drippy!' The nerve of that little..._

OC decided to tune out of his thoughts before this story pushed its rating even more. She let Hotness pull her along as they rushed through the halls of Jade Mountain Academy. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._ She took a deep breath and started repeating her mantra again.

* * *

The library was quiet and empty. Even Starflight and that sleeping teacher from earlier were gone. That made it a good place for OC and Hotness to meet with the RainWings and warn them of the impending tragedy.

OC stared at the four RainWings who now stood in front of her. She wanted to scream at them all to fly away as fast as possible. _Keep it together, OC!_ she told herself relatably. She didn't want to start a panic (this school had already had quite enough of those), and she knew that Allure would make fun of her.

Allure. The mean RainWing finished bullying a side character and turned toward OC. Her eyes narrowed and her scales darkened with inexplicably strong hatred. It was kind of ridiculous, how quickly these had come to despise each other. OC tried to bravely stare her down.

"Um, I have places to be, loser," Allure said rudely, "cool places that a hybrid like you would never be invited to. Whatever this weird little meeting is, I'm leaving if you don't finish it, like, right now!"

OC nobly decided to turn the other cheek and not get mad. She tried to ignore Allure, looking away. One of the random RainWings started talking to Hotness. The other two lazed around and did stereotypical RainWing things.

"What is this even? Some RainWings-only party? That's soooo stupid, totally not inclusive of other tribes," Allure snarled. "Besides, why would any _real_ RainWings want to hang out with you? You're overpowered and your personality is so - " Her mean eyes widened when she saw Hotness. "Oooooh, _he'_ s here!" Suddenly, Allure didn't seem so upset about being here. Her scales became an eye-hurting shade of red as she walked up to Hotness.

 _It's okay, OC. You hugged him. That means he totally loves you now_ , OC reassured herself. She felt relatably sick inside when she saw the way that Allure smiled at Hotness. _Is this...is this how Expendable feels about me? That's kind of sad._

"Hey, Hotness," Allure said flirtily, "I thought you were going to hang out with me. Where have you been?"

Hotness took a step back, frowning attractively. "Islet was just _murdered_ , Allure."

"Yeah, anyway," Allure cut in, thinking about nothing but herself, "what is this meeting for? A RainWing club? Such a good idea, Hotness!" She looked around, her scales shifting slightly as she noticed something. "But where's Boto?"

 _Boto. Boto isn't here._ Hotness froze. _Five winglets. Four RainWings. We're missing one. We're missing Boto._

"Oh no," Hotness whispered under his breath. He looked at OC with fear in his attractive eyes. "We have to find Boto..."

OC turned and looked forlornly out the window. Her wings shook and a single tear rolled down her beautiful, dramatic face. All she could say was, "I hope it's not too late."


	16. Chapter 15: Too Late

**Chapter 15:**  
 **Too Late**

It was too late.

Subzero found the body this time. He handled the situation considerably better than Expendable had, calmly directing everyone while also making snappy comments.

After searching the halls, the library, and the Literature classroom (those places just seemed creepy for some reason), OC and Hotness found their IceWing friend in Boto's dormitory, crouched over the poor RainWing's body. Boto was sprawled out on the floor, injured in a vague, bloody way. OC let out a beautiful sob and Hotness attractively gasped. Then they both stopped in the doorway and stared.

Glancing up, Subzero said, " _There_ you are. Finally. I sent Fatespeaker to get the dragonets of destiny, but we already know that they're utterly useless." He sighed and tossed a fresh notepad to OC. She relatably fumbled with it and caught it. "So, I guess we're investigating now?" Subzero asked, casually taking a bag of seal jerky out of his bag and snacking on it. Crumbs fell onto the ground, all over the crime scene, as a testament to how little he cared at this point.

"No!" OC cried relatably. She rushed over to Boto, reaching out with majestic grace and touching his cold, rigid face. She had never even seen this dragon before, and there was no emotional connection between them at all. Still, this was a death scene, so there had to be some sort of drama.

Subzero backed away from her and leaned against a wall, calmly picking some blood off of his talons. "Okay," he said, "if you don't want to investigate, then I'll just go back to my dorm. I have an exposé to write, remember?" He looked around and casually took note of what he could complain about. _Inadequate security, poor response time to emergencies, and hideous design choices. Seriously, they couldn't get any wallpaper? How barbaric._

"No, wait, ugh!" OC glared up at him and then flopped down on the floor again, even more dramatically. "I only said 'no' out of pain and disbelief. We still have to solve this mystery! It's...it's our heroic duty!"

Hotness nodded in attractive agreement and embraced her. _We have to do this_ , he thought handsomely. _OC is right. She's also beautiful and sweet and relatable. This isn't really the right time to compliment her, though. I'm so attractively sensitive to that stuff._ Kneeling in front of a falling classmate that they knew nothing about, they caused a very touching and sad scene.

It was promptly ruined by Subzero scoffing and scowling at them. "Neither of you knew this guy! Stop acting like angels who loved him." He returned to sketching the scene with cold focus and precision, thinking, _I hope I don't have to miss breakfast because of this_.

For some reason, OC was finding it very hard to tolerate Subzero's attitude right now. "Boto's gone," she cried, a few sad, sparkling tears dripping down her face to emphasize her point. "And I'm having an inner struggle here! Why don't you care?"

"Come on!" Subzero snorted. "I can't be the only one who was desensitized to violence. For moons' sakes, the whole world has been at war for the past twenty years. Why does everyone seem to forget that?" Not wanting to be _too_ rude, he offered them some of his jerky.

"Subzero," Hotness growled attractively, "we don't have time for your pessimism!"

"I am deeply hurt by that statement," Subzero said sarcastically. His not-so-sarcastic thoughts betrayed some real, genuinely upset feelings. He quickly shook them off and went back on the attack. "Maybe I'll go _cry_ about it." He glared pointedly at OC, who felt relatably offended. Hotness looked at her and began thinking about how much he wanted to protect her.

"Why are you suddenly twice as snappy as usual?" Hotness demanded, stepping toward Subzero.

The IceWing sniffed disdainfully and snarled back, "Why are you acting more confrontational than usual?"

 _Why am I even more dramatic than usual?_ OC wondered. Even for a tragic, conflicted main character, she was acting kind of weird. This had to be more than just her inconsistent personality.

Then it dawned on her.

"Guys! Guys!" She threw her wings up. "What time is it?"

"Huh?" Hotness looked at her, confused. He was _so_ handsome when befuddled. OC's heart pounded.

Subzero thought for a moment. "Well, we haven't invented clocks yet, but I'd say that it's...very, very late." He went over to a conveniently placed window and drew back the curtain. The sun was already starting to rise. "Or very, very early. Wow." The IceWing sat down on Boto's bed and stared, unblinking, at the dark purple dawn.

OC clasped Hotness's talons in her own. "Don't you see?" she said to both of them. "We're all _tired_."

She realized that this whole crazy mystery plot - fifteen chapters worth of action - had happened over the course of one ridiculously long day. It was almost as if whoever was writing the story had forgotten all about timing and pacing.

Hotness closed his soulful, hot cocoa colored eyes and took in a deep breath. "You're right, OC. None of us have been ourselves. I'm so scared and stressed out."

Feeling relatably sorry for him, OC patted his shoulder. "We all are. I know this mystery is big, and any of us could be murdered at any time," she murmured, stifling a yawn, "but we need sleep." Even a dragon as perfect as OC needed her relatable rest.

"Then it's settled," Subzero said without looking at either of them. "Let's all head back to our own beds and get some sleep. Don't let the merciless killer lurking about keep you up. Sweet dreams."

They all briefly looked at Boto, who was still dead. As much as OC wanted to help the poor RainWing, everyone was too tired to do anything right now. Plus, OC didn't want to accidentally disrespect his corpse or anything. She had no idea what RainWing burial traditions were, and any invented for the purpose of this fanfiction would surely be disproved by future Wings of Fire books.

Hoping that someone else would come along and deal with the mess, the exhausted trio left the room and headed toward their dormitories.


	17. Chapter 16: Another Note, Another Clue

**Chapter 16:**  
 **Another Note, Another Clue**

OC's team met up in the library again. They had all experienced terrifying nightmares, but OC still looked beautiful and refreshed.

The day's classes had been cancelled so that the dragonets of destiny could "investigate". Everyone knew that they were just locked in Tsunami's office yelling at each other and crying. By now OC had decided to ignore that insignificant side-plot.

Since Starflight was busy being useless and blind at the meeting, OC and her friends once again had the whole library to themselves. It was nice being able to talk as loud as they wanted. _At least we don't have to worry about a secret antagonist overhearing us now_ , OC thought optimistically.

Subzero was back to his usual self. "This library really shows how biased our school is," he growled. "Hardly any SkyWing literature, and the IceWing stuff – why are only the most extreme, liberal authors included?! How is this fair?" He threw a stack of scrolls down, disgusted.

Expendable and Muddy sat on opposite sides of the table, avoiding eye contact with each other. OC wondered what had happened between them last night. They hadn't warned the dragonets of destiny about the murder, so what had they been doing?

Ignoring their basic right to privacy, OC looked into both of their thoughts. She heard several pieces of a conversation...something about shipping? Apparently Muddy wanted Winter and Moonwatcher to end up together, something that Expendable, and avid Moonbli shipper, couldn't tolerate. _Oh no!_ OC thought. _Looks like Mudpendable isn't working out as I planned._ She knew all too well how divisive those kinds of arguments were.

Hotness was thinking attractive thoughts and flipping through OC's notes. "Everyone has the day off," he said in his rich, honey voice. "We have to start interviewing the suspects." He looked at her list and winced. "Looks like we can cross Boto off of this."

 _Interviews? I'd call them interrogations_ , Subzero thought bitterly, taking a sip of his coffee.

OC wondered if coffee was even suppose to exist in Pyrrhia. _Well, wine and pie and organized monarchies exist here_ , she reasoned, _so I guess coffee isn't the weirdest thing dragonkind has invented._

Expendable raised his talons and everyone except Muddy looked at him. "Hold on," the SkyWing said, "aren't we going to talk about the note? The one left with Boto?"

OC, Hotness, and Subzero all stared at him blankly. "What are you talking about?" OC asked.

"Muddy and I stopped by the crime scene," Expendable explained. _How can Muddy ship Winterwatcher? Moonbli will totally be canon soon._ "We were looking for you, but you were already gone. It was sunrise, around breakfast time. We, uh, we assumed that you three already knew about the note. I didn't think it was important."

Subzero looked at him, frowning. "I found the body. I sketched it. I searched it. There was nothing on it."

"N-n-nothing?" Muddy asked quietly.

"Well…" Subzero paused. _The Queen Glory Fanclub membership doesn't count. Your secret dies with me, Boto._ "No, nothing around him at all."

Muddy shyly touched Subzero's shoulder and said, "B-but...it's r-right here." She pulled the note out of a conveniently placed bag and set in on a table. Like the note found on Islet, it was stained with blood and had really creepy writing on it. "W-we f-found it."

Expendable nodded in agreement, pushing aside his complicated feelings about Muddy for the moment. "Yes! I swear, it was sitting right under his wing."

Now OC wasn't sure who to believe. She looked into Expendable's mind and saw that the SkyWing was telling the truth. Expendaple and Muddy quite clearly remembered seeing the note on Boto, and Subzero remembered not seeing it. Their conflicting memories relatably confused OC.

"How is that possible?" Hotness turned to OC for her answer.

"It's not." OC took the note from Expendable, her talons shaking. "I was there. I saw Boto. There was no note. Not when we found the body, anyway. Expendable," she said. The SkyWing's thoughts rushed happily when she said his name. _I really have to talk to him_ , OC thought. "You found this at breakfast time, right? That's at least a whole hour after Subzero, Hotness, and I left."

"So…the note wasn't hidden at the time of the killing," Expendable said. "It was planted later." His talons tapped nervously, and OC couldn't help finding his awkwardness to be mildly attractive.

"That means that the killer either returned to leave the note," Hotness reasoned, "or the notes aren't from the killer at all."

Subzero, who had been thinking the exact same thing, was a bit miffed that Hotness had beaten him to the punch. "This is all very interesting," he muttered, then quickly clarified, "and I'm not being sarcastic - this could actually be a clue. Goodness knows we need one right now, with how pathetic our investigation is." He picked up the suspect list and slid it to the center of the table. "But, like Hotness said, this is our only day off. If we're going to make any progress - by the way, I seriously doubt that we will - we have to talk to these dragons today."

OC set the creepy note down and picked up the list instead. "We can investigate the note later. Right now, let's focus on the suspect list."

"That's a good idea, OC," Hotness said, admiring her intelligence and relatableness. "Thanks for keeping us on track."

"Yes!" Expendable quickly burst in. "I also really appreciate you, OC!" _She's so brilliant and kind. I wish I had the nerve to talk to her._

Subzero snorted, letting out a puff of icebreath that chilled the room. "Didn't I just say that? I literally just said that. All she did was repeat what _I_ said." He looked at Muddy, who was busy sitting still and doing nothing. "Muddy, didn't you hear me say that?"

"I think OC's p-plan is really g-good," Muddy mumbled. _Should I talk to Expendable later?_ she wondered. _Oh, we had such an awful fight. I can't believe he thinks Moonwatcher would fall in love with some attractive SandWing. Obviously the grumpy IceWing is a better match for her!_

"Fine. Whatever." Subzero threw his talons up. "Let's start the interrogations. Oceancurse, let me see the suspects list. I can't believe I'm missing a scrapbook club meeting for this."


	18. Chapter 17: The Suspicious SkyWing

**Chapter 17:  
The Suspicious SkyWing**

"Expendable, track down that oddly suspicious teacher," OC said, taking charge in a relatable, heroic way. Expendable nodded loyally. "Muddy, interview Allure." She winced, feeling guilty about giving her shy friend the meanest suspect. "If you want to. I mean - "

Muddy smiled reassuringly. "I can d-do it, OC! T-trust me."

After doing absolutely nothing for the last seventeen chapters, OC's shy friend finally seemed ready to help move the plot forward. OC felt retably inspired by her bravery.

"Hey, Hotness," Subzero said casually, taking an orange out of his bag and starting to peel it, "why don't you and I question Plottwister together? I'd do it by myself, but you know she can't stand IceWings. I'd rather not be the victim of another preventable hate crime."

Shifting uncomfortably, Hotness looked down at the table and thought about OC's beautiful, sparkling eyes. _But I was going to tell OC about my deep romantic feelings for her! Oh well. I can't let Subzero get hurt. He's still my friend, even if he threw a cactus at me that one time._ The attractive SandWing nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. She's mean to everyone, but I think she kind of likes me."

Subzero, still intent on eating his orange, glanced up at OC with an obnoxiously fake look of innocence. Before she could read his mind and figure out what the heck he was doing, Hotness took her talons in his. She turned to him, doing her best to ignore the agony that filled Expendable's thoughts.

"That would mean OC has to interview Herring and Red," Hotness said, romantically concerned for her. "Both of them. Are you sure you don't need help, OC?" Though he fully believed in her, he didn't want to stress her out.

"Oh, please." Subzero rolled his eyes. "Their names are _Red_ and _Herring_. Am I the only one who notices this stuff?"

As much as she wanted to share another sweet scene with Hotness, OC had to prove that she was a strong, independent, capable heroine. Feeling her heart crumple up with sadness, she smiled at Hotness and said, "I'll be fine. I can handle a couple of potential murderers."

"Let's go," Expendable said, hiding his personal torment quite well. _Oh, OC, will I ever get a chance to talk to you?_ he wondered sadly. "We can meet back up here. There's not much time."

"Yes." Subzero picked up his bag and slung it across his shoulder. Still holding his orange, he nodded to Hotness, and the SandWing followed him to the door. "I'd appreciate it if you all tried not to get murdered."

OC grabbed her own conveniently-appearing bag. "I'll do that, Subzero," she replied kindly.

The IceWing snorted and left. Hotness, still thinking about how much he loved OC - and now also about how Subzero threw a cactus at him, walked out after him.

Expendable turned to OC, his mildly attractive gaze not meeting hers, and said, "OC, I, um..." _Three moons, I shouldn't be distracting her right now._ "Good luck with Red and Herring."

OC was too busy relatably thinking about her crush to worry about her SkyWing friend. "You too," she said. She forced on a relatable, hopeful smile and then rushed out of the library. _Time to meet some suspects! I wonder what they're like?_

* * *

After asking around and enduring the mean thoughts and stares of her classmates, OC was able to locate Red's dormitory. She rushed in, startling the SkyWing. OC jumped back, relatably surprised, and took a moment to study the suspect.

Ironically, Red had orange scales. She was also very plain and unremarkable, the type of side character that nobody - not even the author - cared about. OC's heart sank as she realized that this dragon was probably not the murderer.

"Hello," Red said, thinking, _Wow, she looks so weird. Must be the hybrid. I'm going to judge her now._ "I don't think we've met."

OC held out her talons and relatably introduced herself. "I'm Oceancurse. You can call me OC." She glanced around the room before adding. "I just wanted to ask you something."

Red hesitated before shaking talons with her. "Look, I don't know what this is about, but will it take long? My roommate and I have scrapbooking club."

OC wondered why so many of her classmates enjoyed scrapbooking. "I only have a few questions," she said, "about Islet, that SeaWing who was killed."

"Oh, Herring's cousin?" Red nodded. "Quiet, blue, unimportant? I didn't know her that well; we only had one class together. Herring will be back soon if you want to talk to her."

It took a moment for OC to process what that meant. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Herring is your roommate?"

"Yeah," Red said blandly. "We were working on a project for Foreshadowing class. That's why we were in the hall that day." She shifted, glancing away and thinking, _Well, that wasn't all...I can't tell her about that. She'll get suspicious._ "Really, I had no idea Islet was even there. Wasn't until the scream that we noticed something was wrong. I don't know if it was Islet or Expendable screaming. That guy has a pretty high voice."

"You didn't hear anything? No sounds of a fight?" OC pressed, relatably chilled by Red's mysterious thought. She tried not to let her fear show on her face as she dove deeper into Red's memories. Luckily, her mindreading was ridiculously powerful and helpful in this scene.

Red shook her head. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "No. Must have been a quick murderer."

Her memories told a very different story. In them, OC saw the following scene:

 _"Will you two just leave me alone?!" Islet growled, her plain, forgettable face twisted with anger. Her wings were flared up defensively. She pointed at Red. "Stop bothering me, or I'll tell - "_

 _Red grabbed the SeaWing's wrist and shoved her back. "You won't be telling anyone anything, Islet. This is between us, and it ends now."_

 _Another SeaWing, presumably Herring, looked at Red nervously. "Hey, Red, calm down. Can we just get to lunch?"_

 _"Not until Islet here admits that she twined tails with Peregrine!" Red growled. "During band practice! Allure told me everything. Don't you see, Herring? They_ twined tails _. That's like the most intimate thing you can do in a children's story!"_

 _Herring pulled Red back and hissed at her, "We just survived the bloodiest war in history and this is what you choose to be upset by?" When Red still wouldn't back off, Herring cried, "Three moons, Red! Do you really think Islet would go out with Peregrine? He killed her parents in the Summer Palace attack."_

 _"Wait, WHAT?" Islet cried._

OC stepped back, pulling herself out of Red's mind. She realized that this was all just part of a random subplot and had nothing to do with the mystery. Though it was a bit surprising to find out that background characters had actual lives, she was mostly disappointed that Red and Herring had turned out to be a red herring. Who would have guessed?

Red was looking at her oddly. "What?" she asked. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Nothing," OC said, at a relatable loss for words, "uh, I just remembered that I have...a date...with a friend...a friend-date-thing. You know, the relatable kind. I have to go."

 _What a weirdo_ , Red thought. _I sure am glad that she doesn't know my innermost thoughts and regrets._

"Well, uh, I'll try to save everyone's life now. Bye." OC awkwardly gathered up her things and started to leave. "Thanks for the answers."

Red gave her one last scornful, judgmental look before returning to whatever unimportant thing she had been doing before OC arrived.

As she headed down the hall, her head hung in relatable defeat, OC went over the few leads that she did have. _Two unrelated dragons dead. Notes that may or may not actually be from the killer. No major suspects. No known motives. No real evidence. No plan for where this long, convoluted plot is going._

She sighed and hoped that her friends were having better luck.


	19. Chapter 18: Love Triangle

**Chapter 18:**  
 **Love Triangle**

OC sat alone in the library, reviewing their notes. She felt so relatably useless and sad. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._

When she heard someone enter, she quickly looked up and hoped that it was Hotness. It turned out to be Expendable. _Well, at least it's not the murderer_ , she told herself, trying to remain positive.

He walked toward the table slowly with a look of disappointment on his mildly attractive face. OC frowned when she saw him, wondering what was wrong. Usually just being in the same room as her made him talkative and dreamy.

"What's up, Expendable?" she asked as coolly and non-romantically as possible. "Did you find that teacher?"

His face immediately brightened when he saw her. How was she always in the right place at the right time? _Wow, her eyes are exquisite today. And her wings, what a beautiful shade of purple!_ Hearing his thoughts made OC feel relatably awkward about herself. She shifted her scales to a duller blue and did her best to block Expendable's mind out.

"No," he admitted sadly. He looked down, feeling terribly ashamed of his failure. "There was no sign of him anywhere. Fatespeaker said he took the day off for hunting."

"Hmm." OC relatably fiddled with a scroll as she pondered. "That's kind of suspicious."

Expendable nodded in agreement, relieved that she wasn't upset about it. "Webs is still missing, so the other teacher will probably be our substitute in History tomorrow. I was thinking that's when we should interview him."

OC realized that Jade Mountain Academy had only two adult teachers. _Maybe Subzero is right about our school_ , she thought.

"Let me write that down." She grabbed an inkwell. Then, frowning, she looked back up at Expendable. "Uh, what do we write with, again?"

His brow creased not-too-attractively. "I think we use our claws," he said, but he didn't sound too sure. "Wait, no, do we use quills? I...I don't know. It's kind of...ambiguous."

"Oh. Okay." OC picked up an orange crayon and started working on her notes relatably. Expendable continued standing there, staring at her longingly with his heartbroken amber eyes. A very awkward moment passed before OC finally said, "Can you help me with this, Expendable?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Yes, if you want me to. I mean, you're way better at this stuff than I am. But if you want me - uh, if you want my help, sure." He scrambled over, pulled out a chair, and sat across from her, his tail swishing back and forth in a way that OC couldn't help finding kind of cute.

They sorted through the assorted notepads and scrolls together. OC smiled politely at her friend, unable to meet his amber eyes. Even without using her mindreading, she could tell that he wanted to start a conversation but didn't know how.

"So," he began, "how did it go with your two witnesses?"

"Not well," she answered, relatably unrolling a scroll of notes as she spoke. "I didn't find any leads. And Red was kind of mean. She also wasn't red."

Expendable laughed. OC noticed that, when he relaxed and smiled, he was actually quite a bit more handsome. "Oh, that's just a thing with my tribe," he said, recalling Ex-Queen Scarlet, who was not scarlet. Of course, that made him think about his tragic backstory (by now OC had come to accept that everyone had one).

"I'm sure Muddy, Subzero, and Hotness will find some helpful stuff," OC quickly said. Her distraction worked, and Expendable went back to his usual, _OC-is-so-perfect-I-love-her_ train of thought. She held back an exasperated sigh.

Then, to OC's surprise, Expendable's thoughts shifted to a very different subject. He glanced at her nervously. "OC, you're the smartest - " _and the prettiest, kindest, most relatable_ " - dragon I know. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?" she said, just a little too softly. _Hotness_ , she told herself relatably, _I can't forget about Hotness!_

"It's about Muddy." Expendable gulped and shifted on his seat. "We kind of got into a fight. A bad one. I feel really bad about it now because I want to be her friend."

OC remembered that her friends didn't know that she knew about their shipping argument. Personally, she wanted Moon to end up with Turtle, but she figured that now was not the best time to bring that up. She decided to give Expendable some eloquent, heartfelt advice instead.

"Expendable," she said, "you should tell her how you feel. I didn't know about your fight - how would I? ha ha - but I think Muddy probably feels really bad about it too. Plus - " She stopped herself. Best friends had to keep each other's secrets. "Plus, she really wants to be friends with you."

Expendable frowned. "She always acts so weird around me, though. I thought she hated me."

"Muddylikesyou," OC burst out. _Oh no! Why did I say that? Now the romantic tension will get even worse!_ Her talons flew to her snout. What a relatable mistake.

Her SkyWing friend's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Muddy likes you," she repeated. "She has a crush on you. Or had one. Please don't tell her I told you! Please!" She felt so relatably guilty.

Still shocked, Expendable said, "I never knew." He shook his head. "I don't know, OC...I mean, I still want to be friends with Muddy. But I don't like her in that way." _How am I going to tell her? This is so painful and awkward for me. Does OC know what this is like? No, she's too smart and strong and perfect for that._

OC's heart sunk as she realized that Mudpendable wasn't going to happen. Now her friend had to deal with a new burden, and it was all her fault. _Looks like Expendable and I have another thing in common now_ , she thought. _It's time to have a real talk with him. Time to resolve this corner of the love triangle - love square? pentagon? - once and for all!_

"Expen - " She started to say his name and was conveniently cut off by Hotness walking in.

* * *

"Hey," Hotness said, his attractive eyes glowing in the romantically low lamplight. He hurried over to them.

OC waved at him, her scales briefly blushing pale pink before returning to blue again. Expendable saw this and turned away, his thoughts filling with angst. OC was too enraptured by Hotness's warm gaze to care.

Subzero followed after his much more attractive friend, though it took a while for OC to notice him. The IceWing had a black eye which, judging from his recent memories, he kind of deserved. In his talons, he triumphantly held a scroll. "Evidence," he stated smugly, waving it around. "I assume that you two don't have any?"

Expendable and OC both nodded in unison.

"What a surprise." Subzero strutted over the table, set down the scroll, which was a manuscript of the interview, and took a seat next to OC. She could have sworn he was stifling some other expression.

Undaunted by Subzero's less-than-positive attitude, OC smiled and put a wing over Hotness's back. The attractive SandWing looked like he was about to say something, but (in an overused trend that was quickly becoming annoying) he was cut off by the sight of _another_ dragon entering the library.

It was Muddy. She wasn't alone.

* * *

"She w-wanted to t-talk to you g-guys," the MudWing mumbled quietly.

OC's nemesis stepped into the room. Her snobby, sneering face peered around at everyone meanly. Her flashy scales glowed with awful, clashing colors like rotten-tangerine orange and denim blue.

"This is it?" Allure sniffed. "These losers are the ones trying to solve the mystery?"

OC pressed herself against Hotness's side, her wing tightening around him protectively. Her jaw clenched and her talons shook. "Why are you here?" she asked relatably.

The mean RainWing leaned back, gazing at them all with narrowed eyes. "Well, weirdo, since you asked, I'm here to help you catch a murderer."


	20. Chapter 19: An Unexpected Ally

**Chapter 19:**  
 **An Unexpected Ally**

Allure sauntered over to the table, her cruel eyes fixed on OC.

 _Why her?_ OC thought. _Of all the possible new allies, why_ her _?_

"I know you're wondering why I'd want to join a team of boring archetypes and _freaks_ ," Allure said meanly, smirking at OC as she emphasized the last word. "Honestly, I'm struggling with it too. But..." She paused dramatically and turned toward a window to look at the sky. OC's fists tightened. Allure was stealing her cliché! "But Boto was actually my friend," Allure explained, "and I want to avenge him."

Everyone else's thoughts became surprised. Hotness even seemed a little impressed by the newfound depth of Allure's character.

 _No!_ OC thought desperately. _I can't let Allure steal him from me._ Her possessive attitude, which would have been a sign of an unhealthy relationship if it was anyone else, was completely normal and justified.

"Plus," Allure added, "solving the mystery would, like, make me super famous. So I'm also being selfish."

Now _that_ was more like the Allure they knew. OC's friends all glanced at each other and went back to hating Allure just as much as before.

"Thank you so much for that unnecessary information, Allure," Subzero snapped snappily. "Coincidentally, I just remembered that I can't stand you."

The RainWing glared at him. Usually it only took one look from her taunting green eyes to scare someone, but Subzero, who dealt with worse glares every time he looked in a mirror, was unfazed. The two of them silently began an intense staring contest.

Remembering that they still had a mystery to solve, OC decided to once again nobly put aside her feud with Allure.

"Guys, I know she's been mean to us," OC said to her friends, "ridiculously and excessively mean, but we should all do the right thing and forgive her for the sake of the plot." The rest of her team, who loathed Allure more than anyone else in the school, still seemed unconvinced. "At least hear what she has to say!" She looked at Allure and felt her scales turn a relatable shade of frustrated brown.

Allure nodded meanly and took a moment to collect herself. Subzero continued glaring.

 _Of course she's the leader. Gross._ Allure's thoughts made OC feel relatably offended. "All right. I'll tell you what I know," Allure hissed, stepping back, "IF you agree not to tell Plottwister about any of this."

Hotness frowned in attractive confusion. "What does Plottwister have to do with - "

"Shh, don't interrupt her." Expendable told the gorgeous, perfect SandWing. OC knew he was only saying that because he was jealous.

"As I was GOING to say before that charming, masculinely beautiful SandWing and lame-o SkyWing cut me off," Allure went on, "I recently saw Plottwister acting all suspicious." She stopped to wink at Hotness, making OC feel relatably sick. "At first I was like, 'All this stupid relatableness is probably rubbing off on her'. Then I saw her hanging around the scene of Boto's death, and, well, I may be a one-dimensional stereotype of a bully, but I'm not _stupid_."

Subzero held a talon up in protest and said, "That's debatable."

Allure tried to glare at him before realizing that it wouldn't work.

"I asked Plottwister what was going on," Allure continued snottily, "since we're, like, best friends. For some reason, she wouldn't talk to me. So then I was like, 'Something is wrong here! I'm the only other cool dragon at this school, so who else would she be talking to?' I decided to investigate."

Hotness and Subzero glanced at each other, both thinking about their recent interview with Plottwister. OC's head filled with relatable questions. Should she have gone with them? Was there something they had forgotten to ask? Why was Subzero's face still swelling? How hard had Plottwister punched him? More importantly, was Hotness okay?

"Since I'm, like, way too pretty for morality, I stole a bunch of Plottwister's stuff and started going through it. I found copies of Islet and Boto's schedules. Weird, right? Almost as weird as her face - " Allure pointed at OC. " - ha ha! I also saw an ancient-looking ruby locket. When I asked her about it later, Plottwister wouldn't tell me anything."

"You don't think Plottwister is the killer, do you?" OC asked.

Allure shook her head and smiled condescendingly. "No, of course not. She was with me when Islet died, remember?"

 _I hope this is all another false lead_ , Expendable thought. _OC could be in danger if her roommate is evil!_

OC glanced at him. _Aww, that's nice. Wait...how does he know who I'm sharing my dorm with?_

"Plottwister didn't seem suspicious when we interviewed her," Hotness said. "I mean, she always seems strange and grumpy, but so does Subzero, and that doesn't mean he's bad."

Subzero looked at him sharply. "Hey!"

"Sorry, Zero, I needed an example," Hotness said. He attractively threw his talons up the air.

 _Oh, so we're gonna do the nickname thing again?_ Subzero thought, his bitterness increasing exponentially.

Batting her eyelashes (which dragons, being reptiles, probably wouldn't even have), Allure said flirtily to Hotness, "You're so hot that I care about what you said, but Plottwister's a great liar. She lies about everything, her past, her feelings, her secret fanfiction - it's all Glorybringer stuff, by the way. Don't believe anything she says."

"Any why should we believe anything you say?" Subzero countered. "All you ever do is insult us and point out random, out-of-context things."

Hotness, being the sensitive, heroic love interest that he was, took it upon himself to say what everyone was already thinking. "Uh, no offense, but that's kind of what you do," he muttered attractively.

"Whoa, _someone's_ acting uncharacteristically rude again," Subzero growled at him."What did I ever do to you?!" In his mind he was calculating the meanest thing to tell Hotness and insisting to himself, _I am a valued and essential part of this team._

 _Well, you did throw a cactus at me_ , Hotness thought, _a pretty big one_. He kept his handsome mouth shut because he wanted to stay friends with Subzero. _Oh, why did I say that? His sarcastic humor is the only thing keeping this story fresh and readable. I hope he isn't mad...wait, he's always mad._

"We need to get that locket!" Expendable said, reminding everyone that there was an actual plot outside of their friendship drama. "It could be a huge clue. Maybe it's animus-enchanted?"

"Animus?!" OC exclaimed. She started twitching and acting relatably nervous. "Who mentioned animuses...animi...ugh, whatever the plural is? What's up with animus dragons?"

Everyone stared at her.

"Stop being so weird," Allure said. "Why are you always dropping foreshadowy hints? That's, like, really lame."

Everyone turned their attention back to Allure and started thinking about how much they hated her. Everyone except for Subzero, who was still looking intently at OC. Her stomach turned, but all she heard in his thoughts was, _I'm SO going to make a complaint about this 'possible uncontrolled animus magic' in my expos_ é _._

Allure sighed and tilted her head back, feigning exhaustion. "So, I'm guessing you losers want me to steal Plottwister's creepy locket for you?" Her eyes shifted beguilingly, gleaming a sickly green. "Don't worry. I'll do it...for a price."

Muddy, Expendable, and Hotness looked at her curiously. Subzero rolled his eyes and thought about a cookie recipe. OC relatably lashed her tail and crumpled a priceless old scroll in her talons. She already knew what was coming. She could hear it loud and clear in Allure's head.

"Hotness has to go on a date with me," Allure said. She smiled at him and turned her scales bright pink. "Tomorrow. It'll be so romantic. Coercion is soooo cute, am I right?"

Hotness blinked at her, his attractive face gone slack with shock.

 _Why?!_ Relatable tears glimmered beautifully in OC's multicolored eyes. _The moment I start resolving my love triangle, ALLURE has to swoop in and try to take Hotness!_ She put her talons over her face, hiding her tragic expression. She couldn't believe this. "No," she whispered.

"Repeated harassment of a peer. I'm pretty sure we can get her expelled for that," Subzero commented, "or at least we would be able to, if this school weren't so uncivilized and awful."

OC wanted to scream. She gazed deeply into Hotness's dark, endlessly attractive eyes. She felt a relatable lump in her throat. _You don't have to do this_ , she tried to tell him with a beautifully agonized glance. He just shook his head sadly. Meanwhile, Expendable looked on and felt confused.

"Fine, Allure," Hotness said, "I'll sit with you at lunch tomorrow." _I'm sorry, OC._

Allure grinned and let out a high-pitched squeal. She started dancing around their table. "Yes, yes, yes! Oh, I can't wait. Eat your heart out, OC! Figuratively!"

OC felt her heart breaking for the hundredth time this week (romantic revelations happened surprisingly often for her). She turned away, defeated. _Maybe this will be our next big clue_ , she thought, trying to stay hopeful. _But at what cost? Oh, Hotness..._


	21. Chapter 20: Totally Not Stalking

**Chapter 20:**  
 **Totally Not Stalking**

OC lay awake in her dorm, listening to the sound of light rain outside (it symbolized her mood) and Muddy's troubled thoughts. The shy MudWing kept agonizing over whether or not to talk to Expendable tomorrow. OC decided to stop interfering with her friends' relationships - after all, OC hadn't even sorted her own romantic subplot out yet.

Plottwister was gone, coveniently preventing OC from spying on her dreams. OC would probably forget to mention this very important, suspicious detail to her friends the next day.

OC shifted around, her back aching relatably. Her cool, custom sleeping place didn't seem so nice when she actually tried to use it. Whoever had designed it clearly hadn't cared to make it functional.

Since nobody in Pyrrhia had thought to invent a mattress yet, it was incredibly hard and uncomfortable. She couldn't sleep. Even if she did have a decent bed, she still wouldn't have been able to. There was too much conflict on her mind and sadness in heart. Poor OC, so distracted by personal drama! Forgetting about the murder mystery, she got up and relatably walked over to the window to stare at the sky and think about her love story.

Pale light streamed down from the three moons, dramatically illuminating her face. Though her sorrow turned her scales a sad gray color, she still looked stunningly beautiful. Her wings gleamed with elegant swirls of silver, and her lustrous eyes shined like melancholy rainbows in tranquil waterfalls.

"Oh, Hotness," she whispered forlornly, "I can't lose you."

 _I know he loves me_ , she thought. _I'm basically all he thinks about, and that's a sign of a healthy, relatable romance._ Still, she couldn't help worrying about what would happen on Allure and Hotness's forced 'date'. _Hotness fell in love with me after five minutes. What if that happens with Allure?!_

She had to see him one more time before class. She had to speak to him alone, without Allure there to flirt with him or Expendable there to stare longingly at her.

Luckily, supernatural powers for invading others' privacy did come with their perks. She had spent so much time looking at Hotness's memories that she was pretty sure she knew how to get to his dormitory. After deciding that this wasn't too weird, she slipped quietly out of her room and into the eerie, dark, foreshadowy corridor.

Following the path that she had seen in Hotness's memories, OC walked down the hall toward his room.

 _What do I say? This totally isn't stalking. How do I tell Hotness my feelings?_ OC stopped in front of a door, her wings and heart fluttering nervously. She was pretty sure this was the one. _I can't just burst in. He's probably asleep. Is he cute when he sleeps? No, wait, that's a creepy thing to think. Relatable but creepy._ She knocked twice.

Subzero answered the door.

* * *

"Oh." Relatably surprised, OC jumped back. "Not you," she said, then felt bad for saying that to her friend (Teammate? Acquaintance? What _was_ Subzero supposed to be?) and tried to clarify. "Sorry. You're not who I'm looking for." Her mind was still so full of images of Hotness that her words came out all wrong.

"Yeah, I've come to expect that," Subzero said. OC couldn't tell if he was offended or just being his usual cold self. His thoughts, mostly filled with politics and petty complaints about their education system, provided her no answers.

OC peered around at all the other doors, trying not to seem weird. "Is...is Hotness's dorm near here?"

Subzero stared at her. "You're standing in front of it."

OC blinked. So Hotness and Subzero were roommates. She wondered why this had never come up in a conversation or in either of their memories. It kind of made sense - how else would Hotness have becomes friends with someone like Subzero? _I guess this is as good an explanation as any other_ , OC thought.

"Uh, okay," she mumbled, looking over Subzero's shoulder to see if anyone else was in the room. "Where is he?"

Subzero rolled his eyes and said, "He left to go fly under the stars and compose romantic poetry. What a waste of time. He really needs a new hobby." He must have seen OC's look of disappointment, because his expression shifted to a strange mixture of pity and disdain. "I suppose he'll be back soon. Not that I look forward to that. I prefer being alone, since I'm the only dragon in this school who cares about getting anything done."

"Yes, of course," OC said. Some relatable frustration crept into her voice. She was just so heartbroken!

Subzero's brow raised slightly, impressed. "Was that sarcasm?"

All OC could think about was Hotness. _I have to see him now!_ "Maybe. I - I don't know. I really need to talk to Hotness." She looked at Subzero, wishing that it was Hotness standing there instead of a grumpy, scowling IceWing. "Can I wait here for him? Come on, Subzero."

 _Frozen moons. I'm going to get diabetes if this sweet, sugary love nonsense keeps going_ , Subzero thought. OC remembered that it was scientifically possible for reptiles to get diabetes. Hotness would have appreciated a fun fact like that.

For some reason, Subzero decided not to snap at her. "Fine," he muttered. "Don't stay long, and don't step on my art supplies." He moved aside, allowing her to enter his/Hotness's room.

"This totally isn't stalking, right?" OC asked him. "It's normal and relatable for me to sneak over to Hotness's room without telling him first, right?"

Subzero picked up a scroll from the floor, glanced at its title, and tucked it under his wing. He tried to smirk, wincing because his face was still bruised from his visit to Plottwister. "Do I look like someone who cares about your relationships?" he growled flatly.

OC looked around at the interesting chaos that surrounded her, ignoring the pessimism that brewed in Subzero's head. She had come to expect it.


	22. Chapter 21: Some Irrelevant Conversation

**Chapter 21:**  
 **Some Irrelevant Conversation**

It was pretty clear which part of the room belonged to which dragon.

Hotness's side was decorated with classy paintings and vases full of flowers in every color imaginable. His sleeping area was covered in red rose petals, with a scroll of romantic poetry unrolled beside it. There were a few pots of green succulent plants, probably to remind him of his SandWing heritage. Elegant white candles flickered by his window. Everything was clean and organized.

Subzero, on the other talon, had completely trashed his half of the dorm.

An unfinished ice sculpture was melting in one corner. OC couldn't tell who it was because the face had never been chiseled. The walls and ceiling were covered with papers and patches of white frost. Soggy, ripped pieces of parchment were strewn everywhere. Most of them were discarded notes about the mystery, full of disproved theories and old clues. OC glanced at Subzero and, noticing that the circles under his eyes were darker than usual, wondered if he was more concerned about the investigation that he let on.

OC looked down and saw that the floor was also covered in ice. She dug her claws in to avoid slipping. Since she breathed FireFrost, a magical combination of all the different types of dragon breath, she could relate to accidentally freezing floors. Ironically, this now made Subzero the relatable one.

Beside the door, there was a stack of wet art supplies. OC spotted canvases, brush sets, and origami paper. Some of Subzero's more recent projects, abstract pieces with titles like "the bane of metacognition" and "Glorybringer fanart" had been taped to the wall. Between the paintings and collages, OC also saw notes about Jade Mountain Academy, things he was planning to include in his publications.

"So," she said, nodding at one of the papers on his wall, "you're, uh, really serious about this 'exposing Jade Mountain Academy' thing."

"Why shouldn't I be?" he snapped back. His voice was as sharp as his wit. "Our school is a mess, and everyone here is too busy with their ridiculous drama to give a d - sorry, censorship, give a _care_ about it." He prodded one of his recipe books with his foot, baring his teeth in a bitter snarl. "Not me. I won't stand by and let this rotten world turn me into another ignorant side character. I'm going to blow the lid off this institution. Then I'll go back to my corrupt kingdom and blow the lid off that, too."

While most of that went over OC's head, she still felt relatably sympathetic for her radical friend. "Oh, Subzero, I'd love to help you with your weird obsession, but I'm just so busy with my personal drama right now. Sorry. Uh, would you mind helping _me_ with _my_ weird obsession?"

He tilted his head, his white horns glittering coldly. _Why was I hoping she would care? Ugh, I need sleep. And pie. Yeah, pie sounds good._ "I thought so. You know what? I will. I could use a distraction from this melodramatic murder mystery." _And seeing Hotness chase after an impossibly perfect love interest might amuse me._ He picked up one of Hotness's flowers, a red cactus blossom, and breathed a puff of frostbreath onto it just to watch it shrivel up in his claws.

OC frowned at him, and he challenged her with a snide look. "What?" he said. "You want me to lie and say that I actually care about your stupid side plot? I don't. I have actual problems to worry about." _Like Kinkajou. Three moons, I hate her._

She decided not to poke around in his mind. Her encounter with Red had taught her to be a little more careful with other dragon's thoughts and memories. She would definitely forget this lesson and regress back to an intrusive mindreader later in the story.

Subzero went over to the other side of the room, beckoning for her to follow. She saw that he was leaving blue footprints behind him. Her gaze followed the trail back to a cracked inkwell that he had apparently forgotten to clean up. Carefully stepping over the pool of dark blue ink, she walked over.

"I have notes from our interview with Plottwister." _Somewhere around here._ He started going through his stacks of stuff. "We might as well go over them, if you can bear to tear your focus away from Hotness for a moment." His bed was barely visible beneath piles of scrolls about politics, philosophy, and baking. A small portrait of Glory hung above it. OC decided not to ask about that.

OC stood by, awkwardly watching, for an uncomfortably long time. "Why don't you just tell me how it went?"

Subzero set aside a stack of scrapbooks and nodded. He sat down, took out the scroll that he had tucked under his wing earlier, and spread it out before him to skim over it as they spoke. "You know, Plottwister was actually really cooperative. She answered most of our questions, and she only punched me after I called her...hold on, what's this rated again? K plus? Let's just say I called her a 'sniveling bully'."

"Do you think she's innocent?" OC thought back to her first day at the school when Plottwister had bullied her. Even if Allure wasn't involved in the murders, shouldn't at least one of the dragons who was mean to OC be guilty?

Subzero shrugged. "Truth be told, I don't know. I refuse to trust Allure. That RainWing is insufferable." _Not only is she shallow, she's trying to lie and manipulate her way into a relationship. That's not just one-dimensional antagonism. It's legitimately messed up._

His thoughts reminded OC of the fact that she was still lying to all of her friends, including her beloved Hotness, about her powers. _Am I doing the right thing? Ugh, I don't have time for more angst!_ She desperately glanced around for something that would help her change the subject.

"Those look cool," OC commented, pointing to an open pack of gel pens that was lying on the floor. Such modern art supplies probably shouldn't have existed in a fantasy world like Pyrrhia, but, at this point, the author didn't care.

Subzero looked up. His thoughts piqued with a hint of surprise, quickly fading into his usual frigid boredom. "They work pretty nice in my scrapbooks. Unfortunately, this weird mystery plot has been taking up all my time." He clasped his talons together. The ice on the ceiling had begun to melt. A fat drop of water landed on his face and ran down his snout. "You can borrow them. I've given up on beautifying my scrapbooks."

Smiling relatably, OC picked up the pens and slipped them into her conveniently-appearing bag. "Thanks."

Subzero nodded curtly and continued not caring. "Say, Oceancurse," he said, his voice changing somehow, "after that whole 'future vision' incident, I couldn't help but wonder about some things." He glanced up at her. "Namely, NightWing powers. Did you know that NightWing hybrids are capable of inheriting full powers? Crazy, right? In fact, this scroll says there have been multiple instances of magical hybrids in the past. Very intriguing."

He held up the scroll he was reading, and OC saw that it was titled 'An Overview of NightWing Mindreading'. He cocked his head again, watching her coolly. "Sorry if this is offensive, but, well, you're here and you're a NightWing hybrid." His eyes shifted and his jaw tightened ever so slightly. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about _mindreading_ powers, would you?"

OC felt as if her veins had turned to ice, and not just because she was one sixteenth IceWing. Her scales paled dramatically for a moment. She tried to turn them back to bright, inconspicuous colors. "WHAT?" she gulped in a suspiciously high voice. "I mean, no. NO. No, I have NO idea what you're...I don't know anything about those powers. Nothing at all!"

She tried to stay calm. _He doesn't know yet. I would have been able to see it in his mind. He would have told someone. He would have told Hotness. What if he already has? Will Hotness leave me? Will my whole romantic subplot fall apart? WHY is he still smiling at me? Is he joking? He's joking._ She smiled back nervously. This story was so flat and poorly written, surely there was no subtext going on here.

 _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._ Her mantra eased her nerves enough for her to calm down and relatably say, "You know, I just remembered that I have homework to do. Gotta make sure I get that, uh, essay done for, uh, Honesty Class! I should go now. Right now."

Subzero sniffed disapprovingly. "Doing their assignments only supports the unfair system, Oceancurse."

"Yeah, okay. Sorry about that." OC picked up her bag and started inching toward the door. "Tell Hotness I was here and that my undying love for him will burn like an eternal fire!" Her heart ached again when she realized she would have to wait until class to see Hotness. Still, she couldn't risk letting her secret out, especially to Subzero, the only morally gray character in the whole story.

She bolted down the hall before he could even say good-bye. He probably would have said it condescendingly, anyway, so it really didn't matter.


	23. Chapter 22: Muddy Does Something

**Chapter 22:**  
 **Muddy Does Something**

OC woke up to the sound of music. Soft, shaky notes filled her dormitory with quiet song. OC's glittering eyes fluttered as she looked around, dazed.

She couldn't recall falling asleep or having any prophetic dream, which was probably for the best since she'd spent most of the night crying about Hotness. They had such a relatable, normal relationship. OC stretched her wings, their beautiful colors glimmering gloriously in the morning light.

Filled with relatable curiosity, she looked around for the music's source. She realized that it was Muddy, sitting shyly in her corner, who was plucking the strings of a plainly colored harp. Her dull scales blended in with the lump of dirt that she slept on. The meek MudWing jumped when he saw that OC was up. "S-sorry! Am I playing t-too l-loud?"

"Muddy!" OC exclaimed, relatably surprised. "You can...you can actually do things?!"

Her shy friend blushed and set down her instrument. "I took m-music classes for a f-few y-y-years." She started remembering part her tragic backstory. OC didn't have time to deal with that, so she did her best to tune out of Muddy's thoughts.

OC peered out their window. The sun was starting to rise, but the sky still wasn't super bright, meaning the time was vaguely morning. _So we still have time to meet up before class starts_ , OC thought. She pictured Hotness's face and smiled. She hoped that she would have enough time to confess her passionate undying love to him - it was impossible to tell when school would really begin. Since nobody had invented clocks, Pyrrhia was presumably still using primitive sun dials and hourglasses to tell time.

She jumped off her bed, ready to use her beautiful, smooth, heavenly voice to sing along with Muddy's harp music. The sound of ripping paper distracted her, and she let out a very un-heavenly squawk instead of a perfect C sharp.

Clearing her throat and blushing relatably, she lifted up her foot and picked up the piece of paper that she had stepped on. It was the note that Fatespeaker had taped to her bed all the way back in Chapter 2. It must have fallen off while she was forlornly tossing and turning last night. She smoothed it out and examined the tear in the parchment.

"Oh, Muddy!" she called to her friend, holding it up for Muddy to see. "Look at this note Fatespeaker wrote for me. That dragon is so nice!" Sometimes OC forgot that Fatespeaker existed. Though she felt kind of guilty about that, it wasn't like anyone else cared about the nice NightWing.

The MudWing set her harp down and squinted at the note. OC wondered what was so interesting about the sweet but slightly insensitive message.

"O-OC..." Muddy croaked, louder and stronger than usual. She seemed almost scared.

OC tilted her head curiously. "What is it, Muddy?"

"That's...that's..." Muddy gulped. "That's the w-writing...the n-notes are th-the same."

OC slowly looked back down at the note in her talons. Then she grabbed her bag, which had conveniently appeared, and took out the two creepy murder notes. She and Muddy both stared at all three notes for a moment. It was true. The handwriting (talonwriting?) matched exactly. They were even written in the same red ink. OC hadn't even noticed that before. _Was I sleeping on top of a clue?_

"S-see?" Muddy whispered, taking Fatespeaker's note and setting it down between the two murder notes.

OC's shining, rainbow eyes were as wide as glorious suns. "Three moons," she gasped, "you're right, Muddy. But that means...that means that Fatespeaker..."

Muddy clutched her harp to her chest and dramatically strummed a minor chord.

Quickly getting over her relatable shock, OC gathered up the notes and shoved them into her bag. She grabbed Muddy's trembling talon urgently. "We have to tell the others."

She raced out the door. Muddy nervously followed, her harp and talent conveniently vanishing from the plot as she did.

* * *

OC led Muddy to Subzero and Hotness's dorm. Luckily, Muddy was too shy to ask her any questions about how she knew the way there. The MudWing stood there shivering with fear as OC banged on the door and called their friends' names.

This time, Hotness opened the door. OC stepped back, relatably embarrassed, staring into his handsome, soulful, coffee-brown eyes and feeling their destinies intertwined. She looked into his thoughts. He was thinking about her eyes, about how much he loved her, and how he hoped there were going to be croissants at breakfast. What sophisticated taste!

"Who is it, Hotness?" Subzero growled from the back of the room. He was sitting at his desk, working on his exposé. "Oh, let me guess, your truuuuue loooove Oceancurse." He stalked over to the door, awkwardly jumping over the big puddle that used to be his ice sculpture. Though he was still annoyed about being interrupted, his mind filled with curiosity when he saw how distressed OC looked. "Whoa, what's going on?"

OC finally broke eye contact with Hotness long enough to turn to Subzero and exclaim, "A clue! Muddy found a clue!"

Subzero glanced at the MudWing incredulously. "You mean she actually _did_ something? I never thought I'd see the day." _What's next, freedom of speech in the Sky Kingdom?_ he thought, keeping his bitter comment to himself for once.

Muddy pulled the notes out of OC's bag and shyly showed them to Hotness. Her talons were trembling terribly, so OC took them from her and held them steady. "See?" OC said, gazing at Hotness meaningfully. "The writing is the same."

"Three moons," Hotness said. His jaw dropped attractively.

Subzero's cold eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened when he saw the resemblance. "Well, I'll be da - "

"We have to catch Fatespeaker and figure this out!" OC cried loudly, conveniently cutting him off to keep this story clean and child-friendly.

Stuttering something, Muddy tapped OC's shoulder. Everyone looked at the MudWing and hoped that she was having another moment of genius. "W-wait," Muddy mumbled, "um, shouldn't w-we g-get Expendable f-first?" Surprised by the concern in her voice, OC looked into her head and saw that Expendable had, in fact, talked to her during some irrelevant time. Maybe Mudpendable was still possible after all.

"Oh yeah, him," Subzero said, sounding less than enthused. He let out an exasperated sigh and shot a glance at Hotness, thinking, _Do we really need him moping around? At least I'm clever when I mope._ He went over to a door that was a few rooms down from his own, scratched the door a few times, then sighed again and shouted, "Expendable, Oceancurse is here!"

The door flew open, and Expendable rushed out. There were tears of joy in his eyes. "OC! I need to talk to you! I wrote a poem and...and I'm ready to have a heart-to-heart. I'm ready!" His head was already full of dreams of going on a date with her.

"No time." Subzero seized the lovestruck SkyWing by the tail and pulled him away from OC. "Muddy did something. Fatespeaker is bad now. Horrible plot twist, I know. Someone who actually cares can fill you in later."

Hotness became attractively defensive and put his strong, warm wing around OC. "Okay," he said, nodding to her, "let's go find this suspect."


	24. Chapter 23: An Unexpected Foe

**Chapter 23:**  
 **An Unexpected Foe**

"This way!" Expendable said, leading them down a long hall. "Her room is over there." _I hope OC thinks I'm smart for knowing that!_

Nervous shades of red and yellow flashed across OC's sleek scales. "I don't understand," she muttered relatably. "How can such a nice dragon do such a thing?" She hurried up to the door that Expendable was helpfully pointing at, unfurling her wings to stop her friends.

"Let's not be stereotypically impulsive and jump to conclusions," Subzero advised sharply. "She could have been framed. My kingdom's corrupt leaders pull stuff like that all the time." OC noticed that he was still gripping his bag and thinking about what he could use as a weapon. _How strong is this superglue?_

The door was unlocked. Since she was already a mindreader who invaded other dragons' most personal memories, she really didn't care much about Fatespeaker's privacy at this point. She slowly pushed the door open.

Any description of Fatespeaker's room would probably be overturned in a future _Wings of Fire_ book, so OC kept her examination of the room vague and brief. "She's not here!" the beautiful hybrid exclaimed, both frustrated and relatably relieved to see that the quirky NightWing was missing.

Hotness peeked in after OC. "Fatespeaker is gone? That's bad," he said. His voice sounded attractively disappointed.

"Well, she is pretty annoying and useless," Subzero commented under his breath. He slid past OC and Hotness (they were sharing another poorly timed romantic moment) and started investigating the satirical fanfiction that Fatespeaker had left on the floor.

Expendable stepped closer to OC. Their wingtips brushed. OC was too busy thinking about the mystery to even feel conflicted by this.

"G-g-guys," Muddy croaked, trying to get their attention. OC was the first to turn around and see the purple NightWing staring at them.

"Hey there!" Fatespeaker said, a little too cheerfully. She tilted her head at the five of them. "Um, what are you all doing in my room? Wait, wait, let me see if my future powers will tell me!"

* * *

Subzero immediately whipped out a pocket-sized bottle of superglue. Hotness and Expendable both tried to put themselves in front of OC, awkwardly bumping into each other and getting flustered. Muddy just went over to a corner and started being even more shy.

OC cleared her throat and put on a relatably fake smile. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable_ , she reminded herself. "Sorry, Fatespeaker," she said, moving past Hotness and Expendable to speak to the NightWing, "we were just, uh, looking for you. We wanted to ask about...something."

Fatespeaker's whole face lit up. _Someone actually notices me!_ she thought. _They care about my opinions and see me as more than a one-dimensional love interest!_ "Oh, that's great," she said, grinning as if they'd just thrown her a surprise party. "What do you need? Do you want to actually talk to me?"

"Uh, kind of?" OC said, unsure of how to proceed. She glanced back at her friends. Hotness and Expendable were still worried that Fatespeaker would attack OC in some sort of crazy plot twist. Subzero had gone back over to Fatespeaker's fanfiction and started reading it again.

Fatespeaker pushed OC aside and stumbled over to him, saying, "Hey, now, that's mine." Embarrassed, she snatched the scroll away and hid it under her wing. OC looked into Fatespeaker's thoughts and, realizing what was written on that scroll, blushed bright red.

Subzero shook his head, trying to forget the troubling image of Starflight that was now burned into his brain. _Well, I'm scarred for life now_ , he thought with his usual pessimism. He looked at OC, waiting for her to say something to Fatespeaker about the note. Hotness and Expendable were also looking at OC, but they were thinking about how her scales sparkled like stardust in the light.

OC stepped in front of the entrance. Fatespeaker didn't notice that her only escape had been blocked. Instead, the NightWing continued to grin at everyone, grateful that they were still interested in her.

"Fatespeaker," OC said softly, holding her talons up, "we kind of, uh, found some notes, of a sort, and kind of wanted to know..." She paused relatably, trying to come up with a way to say _We think you're a crazy murderer_ that was still polite and relatable.

After another minute or so of this awkward, relatable stalling, Subzero's patience finally ran out. The IceWing stormed past OC, flared his wings, and glared at Fatespeaker with every bit of bitter, dissatisfied hatred left in his scrawny body. Fatespeaker, recalling the last hundred complaints he had filed against her with Tsunami, gulped and took a step back. Subzero took another step forward, and she kept backing up. This continued until he had literally cornered her.

"You wrote the notes, didn't you?" he snapped. Fatespeaker flinched in response, guilt filling her mind.

OC was unsure of whether to worry for Subzero, who could be facing a murderer, or Fatespeaker, who was facing a dragon who felt he had been betrayed by her education system.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Fatespeaker mumbled. Her wings twitched and her talons fiddled guiltily.

Subzero rolled his eyes. "Oh, you don't?" he growled mockingly. "You don't know _anything_ about the notes that were left on Islet and Boto?" He glanced back at OC, the only dragon who, with her glimmering, glorious, rainbow eyes, was able to meet his piercing stare, and gestured for her to pass him the evidence. She quickly passed him the three notes, relatably nodding for him to keep going.

"I didn't...I never..." Fatespeaker turned away. OC could already see, in her thoughts, Fatespeaker's memory of writing the murder notes. Now all that was left was the question of _Why?_

"Really?" Subzero said, his voice getting louder and annoyingly shrill. "Because this looks like your handwriting! Talonwriting? Ugh, whatever. This looks like you wrote it, doesn't it Fatespeaker?" And like a sarcastic hawk swooping down on its prey, he held up the notes and stared down at her triumphantly.

Fatespeaker finally broke. She threw herself down on the ground, sobbing, and dramatically cried, "I wrote the notes, okay? I confess!" Weeping in a very not-beautiful, not-relatable way, she looked to OC. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt anyone...I never meant to..."

"Well, this is getting too emotional for me," Subzero said. Deciding to leave the rest to OC, he went back over to the team and stood next to Muddy.

OC touched Fatespeaker's wing and looked at her with relatable sympathy. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find any memories of the NightWing murdering anyone. "Fatespeaker...did you kill those dragons?"

Fatespeaker jerked back. "No," she said sternly, "no." Tears and snot continued to run down her face as she looked at them all with wide eyes. "Please don't tell the others," she whispered. "The fandom already hates me enough as it is."

"Sunnyflight is way better," Hotness said quietly, and OC relatably agreed.

OC shook her head. "I don't understand. Why would you write the notes if you didn't do it?" She couldn't see what reason Fatespeaker could possibly have for doing this, other than distracting them from the real suspect and prolonging this ridiculously over-dramatic story.

"I..." Fatespeaker sat down and let out a sad sigh. "I wanted to be part of something." She gazed at the unimportant supporting characters. "You guys can understand that, right? I never get to be part of the main stories. It's like I'm just there to be shipped with Starflight. Did you know the sixth book was supposed to be about me? But no, Moonwatcher had to show up out of the blue and take MY story arc. I'm never a hero. I'm never important. There wasn't even any fanfiction about me - I had to write it all myself."

Subzero remembered the contents of the fanfiction scroll and shuddered.

"Please!" Fatespeaker cried. "Please don't tell Starflight! You know how blind and fragile he already is. He lost all of his character development." She reached out to OC pleadingly. "I swear I didn't have anything to do with...with _that_! I swear! I just really wanted attention!"

OC looked into her mind and saw that she was telling the truth. Fatespeaker wasn't a killer, she was just a really lonely, pathetic dragon who did a really creepy thing. She looked back at her friends, wondering what they thought she should do.

Subzero was thinking about how he could publish a story on this and wreck havoc upon the dragonets of destiny's public image. Hotness was worried that Fatespeaker might still turn out to be a surprise villain planning to attack OC in the last few chapters. Muddy was being useless again, so OC didn't even read her thoughts.

And Expendable...Expendable actually felt bad for Fatespeaker. When he listened to her story, he started to painfully recall his own love for OC.

OC frowned. What was the strong, brave, relatable thing to do? She looked down at the ground and thought for a moment.

"Fatespeaker," she said, "I won't tell your secret."

Fatespeaker let out a grateful, muffled squeak and then went back to crying. Feeling uncomfortable, OC moved back a little.

"Thank you!" Fatespeaker said. "I promise I won't do anything desperate or weird ever again. I'll even write a fanfiction about you guys, to make it up to you." She glanced at her window, saw that the sun was already up, and jumped. "Looks like I should go start the classes now. Someone should really invent a clock."

"Yeah, uh, I think we should also go." OC hurriedly headed toward the door, relatably eager to get as far away from Fatespeaker as possible. "Come on, guys, let's go solve the mystery." Her four friends quickly followed.


	25. Chapter 24: Breakthroughs at Breakfast

**Chapter 24:**  
 **Breakthroughs at Breakfast**

Since Fatespeaker still hadn't struck the gong to start class (she was probably too busy working on a fanfiction that she hadn't updated in two years), OC and her team decided to get some breakfast. It was, after all, the most important meal of the day, and OC was the most important dragon in the story.

They sat down at one of the stone tables in the very center of the dining hall. It was so late in the day that their meal really should have been called brunch, but the dining hall was still conveniently full of hungry dragons. OC looked around and listened for any plot-relevant thoughts among the noise of the crowd. She had relatably gotten better at doing that.

OC could hardly believe that it had only been two days since Islet was murdered. Only now, since the story was starting to actually go somewhere, did the author care about keeping track of time. Anyway, the school had already moved on from Islet's death, and OC couldn't even remember the other dead dragon's name. _Some kind of rainforest animal, right? Tamarin? No, she's too sympathetic and popular to die._

"It's really a shame that Fatespeaker didn't know anything," Expendable said, frowning down at his bowl of cereal. He hoped his Lucky Charms would lend him some luck in love. "I really thought she would have a clue for us!"

"D-don't give up h-hope, E-Expendable," Muddy stuttered. She smiled at him shyly. Expendable nodded and started thinking about OC.

OC took a bite out of her gluten-free roll of bread. She glanced at Muddy's plate of eggs and mud, or whatever boring stuff MudWings eat for breakfast. Subzero and Hotness were still getting their food. OC spied them both in the buffet line, arguing about something. _They really don't get along now_ , she thought, wondering how her warm, handsome, amazing Hotness was friends with a bitter cynic like Subzero.

"I h-hope Allure w-will h-help us," Muddy said to OC, looking shyly at the notes that her much prettier, more relatable friend had placed on the table.

Frowning, OC wondered how that mean RainWing fit into this mystery. Hopefully the author would forget about her soon, so that OC wouldn't have to deal with being bullied. _At least she can help us catch Plottwister..._ OC suddenly froze. _Plottwister was missing last night! Oh, how could I forget to tell everyone?_ She had relatably messed up again.

"I don't understand why she's so mean!" Expendable cried, thinking about how much he wanted to punch Allure. "How can she not love OC? Everyone loves OC." He glanced at her demurely, then let out some embarrassed laughter.

OC looked away, also embarrassed. "What about Subzero?" she pointed out. _See, I'm not unrealistically perfect or overpowered at all._

"I don't think Subzero loves anything," Expendable mumbled, his voice dwindling as Subzero and Hotness both returned to the table and sat down on either side of OC. _Why didn't I sit next to her? Why did I say that about Allure? Aargh!_ Expendable looked down at his cereal again.

Subzero was rebelliously eating a sandwich for breakfast. He bit into it and glared grumpily at everyone. _Expendable's acting insufferably infatuated again. I wonder how long this convoluted love triangle will drag out, and if it will end as badly as Moonwatcher's..._

"Hey, OC," Hotness said attractively, tapping her talon to get her attention. She stared back at him with luminous eyes that shimmered like magical rainbows. "Did we have any History homework?"

OC was so distracted by his handsomeness that she didn't hear what he was asking. "Huh?" she croaked, then blushed relatably. Luckily, she could read his mind and see what he had just asked her. Invading other dragon's thoughts was great! "Oh, I think we might have had a some," she replied, "but if Webs is still missing, then we'll have a substitute anyway. Speaking of missing dragons - "

Hotness's eyes widened. "The substitute!" he exclaimed, accidentally cutting her off. "Sorry, OC. I just realized something that might be important!" She instantly forgave him. She also gasped, to add to the drama of the moment.

Subzero rolled his eyes and took a big swig from his mug of black coffee. OC wondered how the IceWing could keep down such a hot beverage, then felt bad for stereotyping him based on his tribe.

"Wasn't that new teacher on your list of suspects? If he's replacing Webs today, we have to investigate him!" Hotness said. His dedication to their cause made him even more attractive.

OC smiled. _He remembered my list! Oh, Hotness, we really were made for each other. When will this agonizing romantic tension end?_ She looked at his breakfast plate and saw that he was eating a buttered croissant. He even has the same taste in food as me! Too bad I'm allergic to butter.

"The Foreshadowing teacher?" Expendable cut in, hoping to impress OC with how much he knew about the suspect. "Professor Hopekiller? He's really creepy. It was so smart of OC to put him on the list."

"'Hopekiller'? _That's_ his name?" Subzero spat out a mouthful of coffee, accidentally burning Expendable's talons. "SERIOUSLY? Okay, he's obviously the killer. Let's just arrest him now."

Expendable grabbed a napkin and frowned at the IceWing. "I thought you knew him already. Don't you have him as a teacher?"

Subzero shook his head. "I opted out of Foreshadowing class and signed up for Creative Writing instead. Maybe that's why I'm the only one here who knows how to write a decent story." He glanced at the dining hall's fourth wall.

Before OC could respond relatably, an all-too familiar hot pink dragon showed up in front of their table. Allure's scales were so disgustingly bright that everyone had to avert their eyes as she approached. Though OC's stomach turned at the sound of the bully's voice, she hoped that Allure had upheld her side of the bargain and helped them.

"Oh, Hotness," Allure hissed with a mean smile, "I hope you haven't forgotten about our date! I've been practicing my cruel and proud expressions all morning."

Cringing attractively, Hotness leaned protectively toward OC. "No, Allure," he said, his warm baritone voice shaking, "I didn't forget."

"Good. Now look what I got from Plottwister." With a dramatic flourish of her flashy wings, Allure revealed a mysterious locket. OC gasped again. "Of course, I'll be keeping it until Hotness and I share our romantic lunch," Allure said snottily. She grinned at OC.

 _That's it. I'm strangling that one-dimensional, stereotypical worm_ , Subzero thought, starting to stand up. OC inadvertently grabbed his wing to stop him. He looked down at her, hiding his surprise. _Did she just...?_

 _Oh no_. OC wanted to disappear forever like Sunny and Clay's character development. Her heart was about to explode from all this love triangle drama, and now she was worried about someone discovering her secret. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._

Allure sneered at OC. "You're lucky that I was even able to steal this," she said condescendingly, "since Plottwister is on the run now."

Everyone's jaws collectively dropped. "What?!" Expendable cried.

"Oh, you didn't hear? You're all soooo out of the loop. Lame!" Allure snickered and conveniently explained, "Plottwister's been missing since last night. She was last seen in the rainforest, doing vague and important things with a bunch of other NightWings. What a loser, I don't know why I used to hang out with her." Allure's scales turned a darker, more vicious magenta.

Meanwhile, OC's wings had turned white with relatable shock. What could this mean? Plottwister missing. A teacher to investigate. Allure being useful to the plot. Her whole world was falling apart! Her internal conflict was way more important than everything else in this scene!

"Wait," Hotness started, "Allure, how - "

He was cut off the sound of Fatespeaker gonging. Their school day had finally begun, and at the most inopportune time. OC watched in dismay as Allure smirked and disappeared in the flood of exiting students.

Subzero sighed loudly and shoved the rest of his sandwich into his bag. "I really, really hate this," he growled, accurately summing up the entire team's feelings.


	26. Chapter 25: Classroom Dangers

**Chapter 25:  
Classroom Dangers**

OC and her friends all entered the History classroom. Their passing period had lasted only a couple minutes, but for some reason it felt like months of time had gone by between this scene and the last one.

"Let's see who this Professor Hopekiller really is," OC told her friends, helpfully reminding them (and the reader) of what was going on in the story. They all nodded, except for Subzero, who was busy rolling his eyes and finishing his sandwich.

OC sat in the front row so that she could get a good look at this suspicious teacher, who she was relatably hoping would provide them with a lead. Hotness tried to take the seat next to her, but he was tragically pulled away by Allure and forced to sit next to that smug RainWing. OC and Hotness wasted a solid five minutes sadly gazing into each other's eyes and silently crying out, _Noooooo!_

Expendable slowly sidled in next to OC, hoping that she didn't mind him constantly admiring her. Subzero sat in the back so that he could snark about everything under his breath. Since Muddy's single useful part of the story was over, nobody really cared about where she was sitting.

Their substitute teacher was five minutes late. That alone made OC suspect him. The creepy, scraping sounds of talons in the empty hallway were just icing on the cake of suspiciousness.

A shadow seemed to fall over the entire class as Professor Hopekiller entered. He was a tall, terribly ugly NightWing with vacant, black eyes and an evil smile. Splatters of red had dried all over his talons and chest. He growled loudly and breathed reeking, NightWing breath that made OC want to puke yet again. Note that since OC, the main character, is also part NightWing, the fact that this story has so many NightWing antagonists does not make it prejudiced.

The dragonets of destiny must have been really desperate to hire a dragon like him. Then again, after everything that had happened to Jade Mountain Academy, it would have been hard for them to convince any respectable teacher to join the school.

"Good morning classsssss," Hopekiller hissed. "I am the Killer of Hopessss and Dreamssss. Also, I will be sssssubbing today." His thoughts were all mysterious and evil.

"What a creative name," Subzero grumbled, absently folding his sandwich wrapper into some rudimentary origami. "A+ naming skills, right there."

 _This dragon is definitely the killer!_ OC thought. _How can I prove it?_

Hopekiller glared at both of them as he made his way around the room and creepily breathed on everyone. OC shivered dramatically, and Hotness wished that he could protect her.

"Bl _ood_?!" Expendable yelped, his voice cracking in a way that was not even mildly attractive. He glanced at OC and then tried to look brave. "Ahem, I mean, is that blood on your...everything?"

It took a moment for Hopekiller to look down at his bloodstained scales and think up a lie. "No," he finally growled, "I spilled ketchup this morning."

"For moons' sake," Subzero muttered between bites of his sandwich, "we're _dragons_. We eat baby animals. Even Muddy could have come up with a better excuse than that."

"Th-th-thanks, Subzero," Muddy said. She quickly went back to being unnoticeable.

Hopekiller's evil smile turned into an evil frown.

"You." The NightWing creepily pointed one of his long, apparently ketchup-stained claws. For a second, OC thought that he was pointing at her. She was the main character, after all, so logically he should have only been paying attention to her. She gulped. _Stay strong. Stay brave. Stay relatable._

But then, as the insidious professor stepped forward, it became clear that he was actually looking at Subzero. The IceWing looked around, thinking, _Whoa, an important character just talked to me without provocation._ He turned back to Professor Hopekiller and pointed to himself. "Me? Are you talking to _me_?"

Hopekiller's creepy eyes narrowed creepily. "Yessss, you." He glared down his blood-splattered snout at Subzero's sandwich. "Throw that out or I will have you ex-sssss-pelled."

"This is ridiculous," Subzero snapped back, "There's no rule against eating in class. In fact, Clay specifically said we're allowed to." He leaned back in his seat and defiantly brandished the sandwich. "Why should I waste my food? I starved enough in the Ice Kingdom."

"Becausssse I jussst sssaid ssso," Hopekiller retorted with a surprising amount of sass. He bared his teeth and thought about biting the heads off of IceWings. OC was relatably alarmed.

"Whatever," Subzero growled, flippantly taking another bite of his breakfast before picking up his stuff, "I'm sure you're just as bad as Webs, anyway! This class is all biased garbage. Goes to show how messed up this school is." He cast a sharp but concerned look in OC's direction, wondering, _Will those eggheads even be able to gather evidence without me?_ Then he stomped out of the room.

OC felt relatably disgruntled. _It's time to prove myself_ , she decided, _and solve this mystery without the help of a snappy, fan favorite side character._ She then turned to another side character, Hotness, and longed for his help and protection. The irony of this conflicting message passed right over her beautiful head.

OC scanned Hopekiller's thoughts, searching for any evidence that he was the murderer. Unfortunately, he was so focused on his job that all of his thoughts were related to teaching them. OC sighed. _So he actually cares about education. Too bad Subzero won't be here to appreciate that._

Hopekiller went on with the day's lesson: something about an evil animus dragon that would probably become important later in the story. OC was too busy thinking about the murder mystery to pay any attention to what he was saying. She kept looking at Hotness, desperately hoping the attractive SandWing was on the same page as her.

Luckily, when she violated Hotness's privacy and read his mind, she heard him thinking, _We have to sneak into this dragon's room and look for evidence. I'm sure OC will be able to solve the mystery. She's such a smart and capable hero!_

OC was both flattered and relieved. _What a brilliant plan!_ she thought. Her scales blushed pink at Hotness's compliment. She hoped they would be able to share one last romantic moment before Allure stole him away on that awful date.

But before she could start relatably daydreaming, another plot twist stopped her in her tracks.

Hopekiller stopped in the middle of his very important lecture. He stared right at OC with his evil eyes and thought, _Wait a minute, that must be her. That's the target!_

OC's blood ran cold (technically it always ran cold, since dragons are reptiles - now it just seemed colder because she was scared). She gulped again. _Oh no._


End file.
